Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. In 2014, an estimated 16,000 deaths are expected to occur because of the disease [1]. Lung cancer is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage and because of this, the overall five-year survival is only 15% [2]. Primary tumor in anatomic/clinical stages I to IIIA is considered respectable. Treatment option generally consists of surgery with or without adjuvant chemotherapy [3]. Tumor in the stage IIIB is no longer resectable and the treatment option is chemoradiation [4] whereas for stage IV, treatment options include chemotherapy or oral targeted therapy agents [5]. Chemotherapy typically consists of a platinum-based doublet therapy (i.e. cisplatin or carboplatin combined with agents such as gemcitabine, vinorelbine or taxanes and most recently, cisplatin-pemetrexed for non-squamous lung cancer). No regimen has proven superiority over another [6]. Common symptoms of lung cancer include weight loss, cough, dyspnea and chest pain. Symptomatic patients are more likely to have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) account for about 85% of all lung cancers and they can be squamous (epithermoid) or non-squamous (including adenocarcinoma, large cell and other subtypes). Adenocarcinoma is the most common lung cancer type in the U.S. and in non-smokers [2].

Citation:Chung C (2015) Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors for EGFR Gene Mutation-Positive Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers: An Update for Recent Advances in Therapeutics. J Pharmacovigilance 2:155.doi: 10.4172/2329-6887.1000155

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