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Mark Bailey has been riding the leading edge of non-small cell
lung cancer treatment, benefiting from some of the latest advances, as researchers begin to better
understand some of the malignancy’s genetic markers and related treatments.
Bailey, who was diagnosed with stage 4 adenocarcinoma in September 2007, underwent
several phases of treatment, beginning with brain and pelvic radiation to attack his advancing
lung cancer, which included at least a dozen lesions in his brain. (The two primary tumors were
located in his right lung.) Shortly after, he started taking a targeted drug, Tarceva (erlotinib),
first in combination with chemotherapy as part of a clinical trial and then by itself for close
to a year. In January 2009, Bailey’s oncologist at Ohio State University added another drug,
Alimta (pemetrexed).
The retired law enforcement special agent credits Tarceva,
mong other measures, with buying him crucial months. Within six months after starting the drug,
along with carboplatin and Taxol (paclitaxel), his lung tumors had shrunk to less than 10 percent
of their original size, he says. “Without that drug, I don’t think I’d be here,” says the
40-year-old father of three.
Targeted treatments, such as Tarceva, are among the more encouraging
advances to emerge in non-small cell lung cancer treatment in recent years, according to researchers
and physicians interviewed.
Other headway has been made in the difficult-to-treat malignancy,
including advances in chemotherapy and maintenance treatment. But it’s insights into the role of
biomarkers, specifically mutations in lung tumors themselves, that hold the most promise for
patients in the years ahead, experts say. Already for some patients, genetic analysis is
elping doctors select the drug that will best target the tumor’s vulnerabilities, says
Nathan Pennell, MD, PhD, a lung cancer specialist and assistant professor of medicine
at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center.
“We’ve really exhausted the capacity of traditional cytoxic chemotherapy to make a
huge difference,” he says. “By and large, we’ve been trying to shift gears and go to a
more targeted approach as our understanding of lung cancer changes.” Contact for complete article.
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