Re: Tarceva: New Drug Against Lung Cancer

From: Hopey5000 (hopey5000_at_aol.com)
Date: 12/06/04 

Date: 06 Dec 2004 02:06:25 GMT

A slight correction. It may be a miracle type drug for a small minority of
lung cancer victims. Like Iressa, it works extremely well on nonsmokers and
very light former smokers with adenocarcinoma patients whose tumors have
tyrosine kinase damage. This represents roughly 10%.

In this group, response rates which substantially exceed that of chemotherapy
have been shown in a number of clinical trials during the past year. The
Harvard Gene laboratory has developed an egfr tyrosine kinase damage test to
identify (for a fee) who is likely to benefit from Iressa (and Tarceva).
Whether the miracle drug characterization is right can be debated but this drug
can bring substantial relief for a specific subgroup of patients.

For others, its benefit is debatable. It may bring a modest amount of disease
stablization and symptom relief though without providing any extension of
survival.

Check these articles, some of which are available online
 
1. Perez-soler, Determinants of tumor response and survival with erlotinib in
patients with non--small-cell lung cancer, J Clin Oncol. 2004 Aug
15;22(16):3238-47.
2. Pao, EGF receptor gene mutations are common in lung cancers from "never
smokers" and are associated with sensitivity of tumors to gefitinib and
erlotinib, PNAS | September 7, 2004 | vol. 101 | no. 36 | 13306-13311
3. Cancer pathology & tyrosine phosphorylation,
www.bio.ilstu.edu/Edwards/sigcanc.html
4. New Agents Regulating Tyrosine Kinase Can Be Used Against Several Cancers,
ww.managedcaremag.com/archives/0405/0405.biotech.html
5. Molecular test helps guide treatment for lung cancer,
http://www.partners.org/Pharma_Testing_Popup.html

 

>Subject: Re: Tarceva: New Drug Against Lung Cancer
>From: "Steph" steph@vancouver.island
>Date: 11/21/2004 10:58 PM Eastern Standard Time
>Message-id: <Dtdod.293864$Pl.180278@pd7tw1no>
>
>
>"Robert Cohen" <robtcohen@aol.com.spam.no> wrote in message
>news:20041121161940.07117.00000998@mb-m10.aol.com...
>
>It has its place, which is very poorly served by this kind of "miracle
>drug" nonsense
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Relevant Pages

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