Erbitux (Merck Serono/BMS) effective in NSCLC patients with EGFR mutation

Patients with the most common form of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer whose tumours express high levels of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are more likely to benefit from treatment with Erbitux (cetuximab), from ImClone /BMS/ Merck-Serono, and live longer compared with those given chemotherapy alone. The findings suggest that testing for level of EGFR expression could be used in everyday clinical practice to predict which NSCLC patients are most likely to respond to Erbitux plus chemotherapy treatment and gain the greatest survival advantage. According to a new analysis of the 2009 FLEX trial by Robert Pirker from the Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, patients with high (scoring 200 and above) EGFR expression had an overall survival benefit from Erbitux without an increase in toxic side-effects. In this group, patients receiving Erbitux plus chemotherapy had median survival of 12 months and 24% were alive at 2 years, compared with 9.6 months and 15%, respectively, for those given chemotherapy alone. No difference in overall survival was noted between the two groups in patients with low (scoring less than 200) EGFR expression. The data suggests that high EGFR expression might offer a clinical predictive biomarker to identify NSCLC patients who would benefit from Erbitux. See: "EGFR expression as a predictor of survival for first-line chemotherapy plus cetuximab in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: analysis of data from the phase 3 FLEX study" by Robert Pirker et al. The Lancet Oncology (Published online November 4, 2011 DOI:10.1016/S1470-2045(11)70318-7).