According to American Cancer Society predictions, 173,770 will be diagnosed and 160,440 people will die by lung cancer in 2004. In the year 2002, over 800,000 people worldwide died of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). More people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined.
This issue of Cancer Highlights studies the progress of the most pronounced anti-cancer drugs in development for the treatment of NSCLC. Several unfavorable results have been the reality for many drugs. But, in contrary Eli Lilly's Alimta has clearly seen advancements. More than 200 companies have been identified that have, or have had, drugs under therapeutic development in patients with lung cancer in one form or the other. Of these, approximately 30 companies are conducting phase III trials for lung cancer. These late stage investigational drugs are the most discussed drugs during the recent year. During 2003 and the first quarter of 2004 approximately 850 studies have been published that are related to NSCLC.
The most recent addition to NSCLC cancer treatments is AstraZeneca's drug Iressa, approved May 2003 by FDA and in March 2004 in Switzerland for treating patients whose NSCLC cancer has continued to progress despite treatment with platinum-based and docetaxel chemotherapy. Since a phase III study evaluating Iressa in combination with standard cytotoxic therapy failed to demonstrate a survival advantage in advanced NSCLC compared with chemotherapy alone, the expert panel guideline from ASCO suggest that the population best suited for treatment with Iressa remains to be defined.
This issue of Cancer Highlights will examine the latest events of importance for understanding the progress in NSCLC cancer therapeutics.
An extensive part is focused on the recent years success/failures of the late stage investigational cancer drugs. Giving a compiled data on the most important events that influence and shape the potential of the top ranking NSCLC cancer drugs to enter the market.