Erlotinib monotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer: an effective approach with low toxicity

Treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and particularly erlotinib (Tarceva) has been a field of intense research. This retrospective study was conducted to assess the efficacy of erlotinib and its impact on survival.Patients with stage IIIB or IV, advanced or recurrent metastatic NSCLC were included in the study and were administered erlotinib 150 mg daily, at different lines of treatment.Thirty-six patients were included in the study: 29 (81%) male, 7 (19%) female. At the time of analysis, all patients had progressed and died. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 4 months +/- 2.43 months (range 0-8 months), whereas median overall survival (OS) was 7 months +/- 2.65 months (range 3-15 months). Patients with ECOG performance status of 0 or 1 had better OS and significantly higher PFS rates. Overall response rate was 16.7%, while the disease control rate was 81%.Erlotinib is effective and well tolerated in pretreated patients with advanced NSCLC and a good performance status.