Tarceva approved in Europe for genetically distinct type of lung cancer

Tarceva is indicated for the first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR activating mutations.

Tarceva is also indicated as monotherapy for maintenance treatment in patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC with stable disease after 4 cycles of standard platinum-based first-line chemotherapy.

Tarceva is also indicated for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC after failure of at least one prior chemotherapy regimen.

When prescribing Tarceva, factors associated with prolonged survival should be taken into account.

No survival benefit or other clinically relevant effects of the treatment have been demonstrated in patients with Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR)-IHC negative tumours.

Pancreatic cancer:
Tarceva in combination with gemcitabine is indicated for the treatment of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. When prescribing Tarceva, factors associated with prolonged survival should be taken into account (see sections 4.2 and 5.1).

No survival advantage could be shown for patients with locally advanced disease.

(Source: European Medicines Agency)