On October 15th there was a press release that, as far as I can tell, went almost entirely unnoticed. News outlets reported that Roche (owner of Genentech, the maker of Avastin (bevacizumab)) reported to OSI Pharmaceuticals (the maker of Tarceva (erlotinib)) the final overall survival results from the ATLAS trial.

Over the past several months the topic of so-called maintenance therapy in advanced NSCLC has been one of the most timely and controversy questions in lung cancer. We've had posts here covering a trial testing immediate vs.

Last week we discussed SATURN, the first of 2 recently presented trials testing the role of maintenance Tarceva (erlotinib) in advanced NSCLC patients. Today I will discuss the ATLAS trial, the last of the 4 major maintenance therapy trials (along with immediate versus delayed Taxotere (docetaxel) and maintenance Alimta (pemetrexed)).

About a week ago, as most of you are now aware, the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting was held in Orlando, Florida. Tens of thousands of oncologists, nurses, radiation oncologists, pulmonologists, surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, financial advisors, and pharmaceutical representatives descended on Mickey Mouse-land for schmoozing and sunshine… I mean, for the presentation of the most up to date research in the cancer world.

Over the past couple of years a few large trials have emerged that have shown some value in switching patients to a new chemotherapy after, for instance, four cycles of first line chemo for advanced NSCLC, vs. an otherwise very reasonable alternative of stopping treatment in non-progressing patients and following them off of treatment, until progression.