Tarceva is currently approved as a monotherapy for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who have failed prior chemotherapy, and in combination with the chemotherapy agent gemcitabine for the treatment of chemotherapy-naive advanced pancreatic cancer patients.
Highlights from the data, presented at the 2006 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), included a series of promising studies involving the use of Tarceva earlier in the treatment of lung cancer; in subsets of patients previously viewed as less responsive to therapy with EGFR inhibitors; and in the treatment of additional cancers.
In addition, a study supporting the activity of Tarceva in the first-line NSCLC setting also provided support for the hypothesis that there may be a correlation between development of skin rash and the duration of response to Tarceva.
Furthermore, data were presented which provided support to earlier reports of encouraging anti-tumor activity for Tarceva in combination with chemotherapy in the treatment of head and neck cancer and, separately, for the activity of Tarceva in male smokers with squamous cell carcinoma or NSCLC.
Finally, the company said that Tarceva has demonstrated a marked effect in the treatment of advanced NSCLC when used as second-line therapy in combination with Avastin.
“We are very encouraged by the data presented at this year's ASCO meeting, which, overall, suggest a potential role for Tarceva earlier in the course of lung cancer treatment and in a broader range of disease settings,” said Gabriel Leung, president of OSI Oncology.