Thus far, the vast majority of patients who have an initial response to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors like Iressa and Tarceva will eventually become resistant to them.

For many patients with early stage, resected NSCLC, chemotherapy after surgery may be a strong consideration to minimize the chance of the cancer returning, in which cases, it is often not possible to cure it. Several clinical trials over the past few years have shown benefits from chemo combinations, but which ones would be the leading considerations now?