Erbitux and Lung cancer

Implications: Erbitux has had a few high level trials in Non small lung cancer So far there does not appear to be a contributuion to chemotherapy Maybe we are going about it the wrong way

Analysis: Let's face it, overall there has been no major break through in the treatment of non small cell lung cancer. Despite encouraging results with Avastin and chemotherpy, still a majority of patients don't have a measurable response to chemotherapy. I think we need to recall that until we found the key to Herceptin response in breast cancer, the drug almost became "dead in the water". The same thing may be happening in lung cancer. The FLEX trial has some indications of a success and it very well may be that requiring EGFR positivity could have some how selected out for a more benefitting population. The biologic reasons for success need to be disected. Also, lets be aware of the fact if we can rethink our requirements for successful outcomes, it may only be necessary to stabilze tumors with biologics as opposed to achieving a response by RESIST criteria. With chemotherapy stabilzation was not considered a success because it was difficult to take the treatment for an indefinite time period.