Tests help identify right drugs for lung cancer patients

The studies, which have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, confirm that screening tests are the best way to determine the optimal cure for lung cancer patients.

Study aspects
For the latest study, Dr. Masahiro Fukuoka from Kinki University in Osaka, Japan, and Dr. Tony Mok from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and co-workers examined data of a set of 261 East Asians who did not smoke and had the EGFR mutation in their tumors.

The first research highlighted that the lung cancer drug Iressa by AstraZeneca, was more effective than chemotherapy in patients belonging to East Asia. These people showed typical genetic mutations for the epidermal growth factor receptor or EGFR.

The other study, headed by Dr. Rafael Rosell from the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Spain examined around 2,100 patients who had non-small lung cancer for EFGR mutations.

It was discovered that patients from Europe who also had mutations in their tumors, benefited more from erlotininb by Roche as compared to other patients of lung cancer. Also, people with mutations were more responsive to erlotininb.

Key findings
The results showed that around 25 percent of the people with mutations who also used Iressa, lived a year more without showing any growth in their tumor. In contrast, this number stood at a mere 6.7 percent for the patients obtaining chemotherapy.

Dr. Adi Gazdar from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, remarked in a telephone interview, "Given the fact that the cost of these drugs is exceedingly high...I think we have to use them in selective subtypes, the ones most likely to respond."

Gazdar added, “If you can select out the right subtype, that is an important finding, and an important cost savings as well.”

Lung cancer is known to kill 1.2 people across the globe annually and is the leading cause of cancer deaths.