Safety profiles of erlotinib therapy in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

Erlotinib is an orally available, small-molecule EGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor. It has shown promising activity in chemotherapy-relapsed patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer and is now approved in many countries. To date, there have been a number of clinical studies of erlotinib therapy demonstrating its safety as well as its efficacy. This article summarizes clinical study results in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, so that we can comprehensively understand the toxicities expected with erlotinib in non-small-cell lung cancer patients.