Although the responses we see with a targeted therapy like the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for patients with the precise target, an activating mutation in the EGFR gene, has redefined our hopes and expectations about what is possible to achieve for at least some patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), nearly all of these patients develop a resistance to these agents at some point months or years after often having a very significant response to one of these agents.

The IPASS trial that randomized Asian never-smoking or light previously smoking patients with previously untreated advanced NSCLC to either standard chemo or the epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR TKI) inhibitor Iressa (gefitinib) is widely considered among the most important and standard-changing trials of the last few years in the field of lung cancer.