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An Indian trial showed that adding standard chemotherapy to the cheap first-generation pill gefitinib doubled the time lung cancer stayed controlled and cut deaths by more than half.
350 patients were randomised (176 gefitinib, 174 gefitinib plus pemetrexed-carboplatin). Median progression-free survival was 16 months with the combination versus 8 months with gefitinib alone (hazard ratio for progression or death 0.51; P<0.001); median overall survival was not reached versus 17 months (hazard ratio for death 0.45; P<0.001); response rates were 75% versus 63%, at the cost of more grade 3 or worse toxicity (51% versus 25%). With the Japanese NEJ009 trial it established EGFR inhibitor plus chemotherapy as an option, and offered a low-cost alternative where osimertinib is unaffordable; the approach later re-emerged in FLAURA2.
Numbers are from the trial as recorded here; see the source links in the table below. This is orientation, not medical advice: ask your team how closely the trial population matches you.
Shares Vanita Noronha, Kumar Prabhash, Tata Memorial Centre, Prices and value.
Shares Gefitinib, Pemetrexed, EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer, EGFR.
Shares Vanita Noronha, Kumar Prabhash, Tata Memorial Centre, Prices and value.
Shares Vanita Noronha, Kumar Prabhash, Tata Memorial Centre, Prices and value.
Shares Pemetrexed, EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer, Carboplatin, Small-molecule kinase inhibitors.
Shares Pemetrexed, EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer, Carboplatin, Small-molecule kinase inhibitors.
Shares Pemetrexed, EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer, Carboplatin, Small-molecule kinase inhibitors.
Shares Pemetrexed, EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer, Carboplatin, Cytotoxic chemotherapy.