A Phase III study has been completed showing that patients with non-small cell lung cancer of the lungs who received the drug Tarceva benefitted by almost one third improvement in the time without disease progression over placebo medication. This benefit was achieved without any additional chemotherapy beyond inital treatment.
Tarceva is a one a day oral tablet that is indicated for the treatment of patients that have had an initial round of chemotherapy and their cancer has not responeded. Tarceva has been shown to reduce the debilitation of lung cancer ans increase the number of living relapsed patients at one year by 42%. Tarceva is aimed at the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor associated with the growth of cancer cells.
The most common side effects from the drug are rash and diarrhea which can be treated with anti-diarrheal medications. Patients report less pain and coughing while taking Tarceva than with only supportive care.
