Three cases of long-lasting tumor control with erlotinib after progression with gefitinib in advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Introduction: We report the cases of three patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer responding to erlotinib after progression under gefitinib treatment.

Methods: Three never-smoker women with advanced lung adenocarcinoma, two pretreated with chemotherapy and with gefitinib and one with gefitinib alone, received erlotinib in a daily dose of 150 mg. All three patients had disease progression and had achieved tumor control with gefitinib.