Erlotinib Hydrochloride With or Without Carboplatin and Paclitaxel in Treating Patients With Stage III-IV Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Inclusion Criteria:

Histologic documentation of primary lung adenocarcinoma including any variant thereof such as pure or mixed bronchioloalveolar carcinoma or adenosquamous cell carcinoma; patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) not otherwise specified (NOS) are not eligible

Pathology block or unstained slides from initial or subsequent diagnosis must be available for sequencing of EGFR, K-ras, Erb-2 and B-raf; patients need to have had at least a core biopsy; patients whose diagnosis was made through a fine needle aspirate will not have sufficient material for mutational analysis and are not eligible
Select stage IIIB with cytologically documented malignant pleural or pericardial effusion OR stage IV disease
Patients must be chemotherapy naïve; they may not have received neo-adjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy
No prior exposure to OSI-774 (erlotinib) or other treatments targeting the human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) family axis (e.g., trastuzumab, gefitinib, cetuximab, lapatinib, etc.)
No uncontrolled central nervous system metastases (i.e., any known central nervous system [CNS] lesion which is radiographically unstable, symptomatic and/or requiring corticosteroids); patients must be >= 3 weeks beyond completing cranial irradiation and off corticosteroid therapy
>= 3 weeks since prior radiation therapy
>= 3 weeks since prior major surgery
No treatment with an investigational agent currently or within the last 28 days
Non-smoker or former light smoker; non-smoker is defined as a person who smoked =< 100 cigarettes in their lifetime while a former light smoker is a patient who smoked between > 100 cigarettes AND =< 10 pack years AND quit >= 1 year ago; this must be documented on the On-study Form (C-1405)
Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) 0 or 1
Non-pregnant and non-nursing
No dysphagia or active gastrointestinal disease or disorder that alters gastrointestinal motility or absorption; no lack of integrity of the gastrointestinal tract (e.g., a significant surgical resection of the stomach or small bowel); patients unable to swallow intact tablets must be able to swallow tablets dissolved in water

Measurable disease is defined as at least one lesion that can be accurately measured in at least one dimension (longest diameter to be recorded) as >= 20 mm with conventional techniques or as >= 10 mm with spiral computed tomography (CT) scan; lesions that are considered non-measurable include the following:

Bone lesions
Leptomeningeal disease
Ascites
Pleural/pericardial effusion
Lymphangitis cutis/pulmonis
Abdominal masses that are not confirmed and followed by imaging techniques
Cystic lesions
Granulocyte >= 1,500/mcl
Platelet count >= 100,000/mcl
Hemoglobin >= 9.0 g/dL
Total bilirubin =< upper limit of normal (ULN)
Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase [SGOT]) =< 2.5 x ULN
Creatinine =< 1.5 mg/dl