What is gefitinib used for?

What is gefitinib used for?

Gefitinib is used to treat non-small cell lung cancer that has spread to other parts of the body in people with certain types of tumors. Gefitinib is in a class of medications called kinase inhibitors.

How long can you take gefitinib?

“The patients taking gefitinib lived about 10 months longer without recurrence than patients who received chemotherapy, and patients are able to take [gefitinib] for almost 2 years and tolerate it very well,” Wu told HemOnc Today.

What kind of cancer does Tagrisso treat?

TAGRISSO is a targeted therapy for EGFR+ lung cancer. *For tumors with EGFR exon 19 deletions or exon 21 (L858R) mutations, as detected by an FDA-approved test. TAGRISSO is the #1 prescribed EGFR TKI therapy as a first treatment.

What cancer is erlotinib used for?

Erlotinib is a type of targeted cancer drug, and is also known by its brand name Tarceva (pronounced tar-see-vah). It is a treatment for: non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has spread (advanced) advanced pancreatic cancer – alongside the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine.

What are the side effects of gefitinib?

Side Effects

• Abdominal or stomach pain or tenderness.
• clay colored stools.
• decreased appetite.
• diarrhea, severe.
• itching or skin rash.
• nausea and vomiting.
• swelling of the feet or lower legs.
• yellow eyes or skin.

Is gefitinib chemotherapy?

Gefitinib is associated with less fatigue, myelosuppression and nausea than chemotherapy (but produces more skin rash, diarrhea and pneumonitis). Patients receiving gefitinib have improved quality-of-life compared to those receiving chemotherapy, making it an appropriate first-line choice.

What is difference between erlotinib and gefitinib?

Gefitinib has been approved only for EGFR mutation bearing patients regardless the line of treatment, while erlotinib is also indicated in patients without EGFR mutation who undergo second- or third-line treatment.

How long does TAGRISSO extend life?

People taking TAGRISSO lived significantly longer than people taking erlotinib or gefitinib. The median overall survival was 38.6 months for TAGRISSO vs 31.8 months for erlotinib or gefitinib.

Does TAGRISSO cure cancer?

At 6 months following initiation of therapy, approximately 69% of patients treated with Tagrisso were alive with no progression of cancer, compared with only 37% of patients treated with chemotherapy.

What is the side effect of erlotinib?

You may have high phosphate levels, and your blood will need to be tested often. Tell your doctor if you have symptoms such as numbness or tingling around your mouth, muscle stiffness, body aches, itching or rash, tiredness, trouble sleeping, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, or feeling short of breath.

Is gefitinib an oral chemotherapy?

Background: Gefitinib is an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor against the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). It has been shown to be active in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors contain EGFR mutations.

What are erlotinib and gefitinib?

Gefitinib and erlotinib are the two anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) approved for treatment of advanced NSCLC patients.

Does gefitinib work in non-small-cell lung cancer?

PMID: 20022809 DOI: 10.1016/S1470-2045(09)70364-X Abstract Background: Patients with non-small-cell lung cancer harbouring mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene respond well to the EGFR-specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor gefitinib.

Is gefitinib better than platinum doublet chemotherapy in patients with EGFR mutations?

Background: Patients with non-small-cell lung cancer harbouring mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene respond well to the EGFR-specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor gefitinib. However, whether gefitinib is better than standard platinum doublet chemotherapy in patients selected by EGFR mutation is uncertain.

What are the side effects of gefitinib and cisplatin?

Myelosuppression, alopecia, and fatigue were more frequent in the cisplatin plus docetaxel group, but skin toxicity, liver dysfunction, and diarrhoea were more frequent in the gefitinib group. Two patients in the gefitinib group developed interstitial lung disease (incidence 2.3%), one of whom died.

What is the prognosis of Gefitinib-induced nephropathy?

The median overall survival was 30.5 months in the gefitinib group and 23.6 months in the chemotherapy group (P=0.31).