Tarceva Ups Survival in Stubborn Lung Cancer

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Treatment with Tarceva (erlotinib) can prolong survival in people with lung cancer that has failed to respond to standard chemotherapy, researchers report.

Tarceva is designed to target human epidermal growth factor receptors and block them from allowing cancer cell growth. Previous reports have shown that the drug can produce a treatment response in lung cancers that have failed traditional platinum-based chemotherapy. However, it was unclear if treatment with the drug actually improved survival.

As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine this week, Dr. Frances A. Shepherd, from the University of Toronto, and colleagues assessed the survival outcomes of 731 patients with so-called non-small-cell lung cancer who were randomly allocated to receive oral Tarceva or inactive placebo.

All of them had been unsuccessfully treated with one or two chemotherapy regimens in the past.

According to the team, the response rate was significantly higher with Tarceva than with placebo (roughly 9 percent versus less than 1 percent). Moreover, Tarceva-treated patients survived significantly longer than placebo-treated patients (6.7 months versus 4.7 months).

Side effects leading to dose reductions were relatively common with Tarceva and 5 percent of patients stopped the drug all together. Rash and diarrhea were the most common reasons for lowering the dose of the drug.

The same researchers also report that while EGFR mutations can predict a response to erlotinib, they are not indicative of a survival benefit.

SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine, July 14, 2005.