Significant Benefits In Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer From Customizing Erlotinib Treatment

Lung cancer patients whose tumors carry specific genetic mutations can achieve significantly longer survival when treated with targeted therapies such as erlotinib, Spanish researchers report. Investigators from the Spanish Lung Cancer Group conducted the largest-ever study to examine the benefits of customizing lung cancer treatment based on mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene. At the 33rd Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Stockholm they report that patients with the mutations survived for almost two years on average when treated with erlotinib. "For the first time in lung cancer management, doctors are able, by testing EGFR mutations, to identify a subgroup of patients (betw...