By Jennifer Klem, PhD

Big News for Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer

Tarceva™ (erlotinib) now joins Iressa® (gefitinib) as another approved targeted agent for the treatment of advanced lung cancer. Iressa and Tarceva, both once-daily pills, target a molecule called epidermal growth factor receptor, which is known to be present in abundance in tumor cells of most lung cancer patients.

Patients will be excited to hear that Tarceva demonstrated a survival advantage for patients who have already received one or two prior therapies for non—small-cell lung cancer. Patients receiving Tarceva lived two months longer than those on placebo, which represents a 42 percent improvement in survival time. Furthermore, patients taking Tarceva experienced longer time before their symptoms worsened. Based on these data, Tarceva was approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 21, 2004.

Iressa was approved in May 2003 after demonstrating that it could shrink about 10 percent of tumors in lung cancer patients who had already received two previous therapies. Despite this modest benefit, Iressa was seen as an important step forward because patients with advanced disease have so few treatment options. However, data reported in December 2004 show that Iressa’s ability to shrink tumors does not translate into prolonged survival. AstraZeneca, the manufacturer of Iressa, says patients currently taking the drug may continue on the treatment if they wish. The availability of Iressa to the general public, however, may be impacted by these recent results. For more information, go to www.iressa.com.

Iressa’s disappointing results highlight the importance of the recent approval of Tarceva, an agent which has been proven to give lung cancer patients the possibility of extending their lives. To learn more about Tarceva, go to www.tarceva.com.