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Vol.49 No.6 contents | Japanese/English |
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- The 23rd Lung Cancer Workshop -
Selective Use of Gefitinib and Erlotinib on Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients
Miyako Satouchi11Department of Thoracic Oncology, Hyogo Cancer Center, Japan
Gefitinib (Iressa®) and Erlotinib (Tarceva®) are epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) that deliver antitumor effects on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) when used alone. Gefitinib was approved for clinical use in July 2002, resulting in an accumulation of data on its efficacy and safety. Erlotinib was approved in December 2007, effectively allowing the use of two EGFR-TKIs in Japan. Although the approved dose of Gefitinib was roughly one-third of the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), Erlotinib's approved dose is the same as its MTD. A simple comparison of outcomes from domestic Phase II studies on the two drugs apparently does not indicate any significant differences in response or survival. Moreover, there exists no clear evidence on how these two drugs, which have similar mechanisms of action as well as common elements in terms of predictive factors of efficacy, toxicity, and resistance mechanism, can be selectively used, i.e., 'Are there any clinical differences in the populations that respond to the drugs, the efficacy or toxicity?' and 'Can one of the drugs be effective on patients who fail to respond or develop resistance to the other?'. The aim of this paper is to examine the selective use of Gefitinib and Erlotinib through past findings.
key words: Gefitinib, Erlotinib, Selective use, Patient selection, Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation
JJLC 49 (6): 950-956, 2009
