Lung cancer, the header among all forms of cancer, is avenged now by the new proven effective ZD1839.
It has been shown that ZD1839, an epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has confirmed, durable responses and safety in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as monotherapy and in combination with standard chemotherapy agents after segmental scrutinization in two different studies.Vincent Miller, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the principal investigator of the first study said, "It is hoped that our study will be a prelude to better outcomes for NSCLC patients in the near future." No novel toxicities were seen with ZD1839 treatment in combination with standard chemotherapy.
In a second study, which addressed intermittent dosing of ZD1839 in Japanese patients with advanced lung cancer, more than 20% of patients showed partial responses to ZD1839 between 1 and 11 months.
With such promising results, researchers are now working on whether this drug can be used for other forms of cancer as well.
