OSI-774 (Erlotinib, Tarceva) in Elderly Patients

In recent years, it has been shown that the degree of improvement achievable with chemotherapy has plateaued with the use of chemotherapy doublets. The presence of co-morbid conditions and poor performance status may preclude the use of chemotherapy in many elderly patients, which even in the medically fit, has modest benefits. The advent of targeted cancer therapy with the discovery of tyrosine kinases as mediators of tumor growth, with its limited toxicity profile, offers a promising approach to the treatment of NSCLC, in particular to the elderly subset of patients. The encouraging results from the other trials provide a strong rationale to evaluate an oral EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor OSI-774 in patients with advanced and inoperable NSCLC over the age of 70. In vitro and clinical data suggest a dose- dependent response with Tarceva (Genentech, data on file).