Tarceva (erlotinib) and Iressa (gefitnib) are both agents targeted against the EGFR pathway. This pathway is involved in cell growth and replication and when mutated or altered, excessive replication of cells can occur. These agents reduce the uncontrolled replication and growth of cancer cells by blocking mutated EGFR pathways.

According to an article published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the targeted agent Tarceva may provide anticancer responses for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who stop responding to Iressa. These drugs are not associated with the side effects of chemotherapy, providing an effective alternative for patients who are not eligible for standard therapy.

A study was done to evaluate the effectiveness of Tarceva among patients who stopped responding to Iressa. The researchers concluded that -- Patients with NSCLC who demonstrate disease control with Iressa and do not have EGFR mutations appear to have benefit from treatment with Tarceva once their cancer progresses following their treatment with Iressa. Patients with recurrent NSCLC may wish to speak with their physician regarding their individual risks and benefits of treatment with Tarceva.

On Tuesday, researchers announced that a three-drug cocktail may help women with HER2-positive breast cancer better than any other drug used on its own. About one quarter of women with breast cancer make up this HER2 category.

Tests on mice revealed using the three drugs along with breast cancer drug tamoxifen helped wipe out tumors altogether. And the tumors did not come back. This is the first time mice were cured of a very aggressive human breast tumor. Incidentally, when a single drug was used, tumors returned within several weeks.

The three wonder drugs used in this study -- all are monoclonal antibodies that precisely target certain aspects of tumors -- are the experimental drug pertuzumab; trastuzumab, also known as Herceptin; and gefitinib, or Iressa.

Published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, this study supports the notion that HER2-positive tumors eventually become resistant to one drug and attacking them on several fronts seems to work better.

The British Journal of Cancer published an article about a trial that showed more than half of women with untreated advanced breast cancer responded to the combination of Taxotere (docetaxel) and Iressa (gefitinib).

The study showed that complete and partial cancer regression occurred in 54 percent of patients. The combination seemed to work best on tumors that were estrogen-receptor positive, showing a response rate of 70 percent. Estrogen-negative cancers had a much lower, 21 percent response rate.

Women with advanced or metastatic breast cancer usually will go through different regimes and different combinations of chemotherapies. Usually a specific drug will stop working at a certain point. The important thing is to keep having more combinations/drugs to try so that the options do not run out.

In a new study from University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Dr. Sharon Giordano, an assistant professor of medicine in the department of breast medical oncology, highlights the reality that some physicians may be influenced to prescribe cancer treatments as a result of preliminary clinical trial results announced at medical conferences and by mass media reporting. In treating cancer patients with unproven cancer therapies, and basing those decisions on the incomplete data of preliminary trials, the physician and patient risk not only the disappointment if the therapy turns out not to be effective, but puts the patient in harm's way from possibly damaging and toxic consequences in unforeseen side effects and complications of the new therapy.

In the past, hormone replacement therapy, HRT, Vioxx and Bextra cox-2 inhibitors, and Iressa, a lung-cancer drug that physicians began prescribing based on early findings, turned out to do more harm than good. With the advent of the Internet, and access to the latest medical news, cancer patients are much more informed today, and may be a factor fueling the push to try new therapies, before they are proven effective or safe. The researchers of this study caution everyone to ask basic questions before embracing a drug that has not completely gone through the testing phases to insure it will do what it is attributed with having the ability to do, and that it is safe.

The FDA has approved new labeling for the last-chance lung cancer drug Iressa (gefitinib), saying that after Sept. 15 the medicine should be limited only to patients who are already benefiting from its use, the agency announced Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration stopped just short of withdrawing the lung cancer pill Iressa from the market, restricting access to the drug to existing or previous users and to patients in clinical trials.

The action follows the failure of the drug, developed by AstraZeneca, to prolong lives in two clinical trials. This is the first time the F.D.A. has restricted use of a cancer drug that had received so-called accelerated approval.