Erlotinib as First-line Treatment of Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) for Patients Unfit for Chemotherapy

A phase II study of Tarceva (Erlotinib) and predictive markers as first-line treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer for patients unfit for chemotherapy (NSCLC) Clinical Phase II Stage IIIB or IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) Primary end point: Disease control rate (= CR+PR and SD at 8 weeks /patients). Secondary end point: Safety (Serious Adverse Events, Adverse Events leading to premature withdrawal, unexpected TarcevaTM related AEs) .Correlation of EGFR expression rate (HER1) and FISH potentially predictive for response. An open-label, non randomized, multicenter, clinical trial of TarcevaTM as single agent The sample size is 29 patients in 2 stages and based on Simon´s optimal 2 stage design. Stage 1 will accrue 10 patients, if less than 1 response is observed the study will stop; if more than 1 response is observed the accrual will continue up till 29 patients. A total of 29 patients would be entered and the treatment will be declared to have sufficient activity to deserve further attention if at least 5 patients obtain disease control.