Erlotinib prolongs survival in advanced pancreatic cancer

In a multinstitutional and international trial reported at the 2005 American society of Clinical Oncology meeting, data were presented to show that patients with advanced pancreatic cancer who received the epidermal growth factor antagonist (tyrosine kinase inhibitor) : erlotinib, lived longer than a control group of similar patients. Pancreatic cancer cells frequently carry EGFR amplifications and it is indeed progress that an orally active drug like erlotinib has meaningful disease activity in this disease.