Tarceva Treatment

My husband was diagnosed with stage 4 non small cell lung cancer last year. He has been treated with Tarceva as a first line therapy. (We did not want the conventional chemotherapy). He has been on Tarceva for 1 and 1/2 year now, and despite the side effects, his cancer has been disappearing and he is doing very well. He never missed a day of work.

This is my question: Is there anyone who has been treated with Tarceva as first line chemoth. without receiving conventional IV chemo, who has been on the drug for more than 2-3 years without recurrence of the cancer?

 I also have to add that my husband is positive for the genetic mutation that makes his cancer very sensitive to Tarceva. Unfurtanetely the medical community has no answer for us or any suggestions. It seems that nobody knows anything or what to do next.

Any comment is greatly appreciated.

Alba3

Hi

i am newly diagnosed and dont have any answers for you but could yoou tell me something about your husband dx and treatment.  I dont havr much info and I am terrirfied please help

Marilyn56

On 6/6/2008 alba3 wrote:

My husband was diagnosed with stage 4 non small cell lung cancer last year. He has been treated with Tarceva as a first line therapy. (We did not want the conventional chemotherapy). He has been on Tarceva for 1 and 1/2 year now, and despite the side effects, his cancer has been disappearing and he is doing very well. He never missed a day of work.

This is my question: Is there anyone who has been treated with Tarceva as first line chemoth. without receiving conventional IV chemo, who has been on the drug for more than 2-3 years without recurrence of the cancer?

 I also have to add that my husband is positive for the genetic mutation that makes his cancer very sensitive to Tarceva. Unfurtanetely the medical community has no answer for us or any suggestions. It seems that nobody knows anything or what to do next.

Any comment is greatly appreciated.

Alba3

My mom was diagnosed with Stage IIIb NSCLC last Nov 2004. She underwent Chemo as her first tx Regimen. Then she was switched to Tarceva. She did very well with Tarceva (she took it for 3 1/2 years) until this week when the doctor decided to discontinue the meds coz her tumor increased in size (for the past 6 months). She just signed up for a Clinical Trial (PF-00299804). It's in a pill form to be taken daily and It's suppose to target protein in cell called "HERS". Lung cancer cell seem to have more of these proteins than normal cells, so this drug may cause those cancer cells to die. Of course this is not yet proven. It's still in the clinical trial process. We are all hoping that it works. I am more than willing to share her progress once she starts her treatment. Overall she is doing very well right now. She does not have any symptoms and she can function well. By the way, if anybody out there have signed up for this Clinical Trial maybe you can give some feedback.