A randomized, placebo-controlled phase III trial of erlotinib versus placebo, demonstrated that therapy with this tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) prolongs survival after first or second line therapy in patients with advanced NSCLC. Moreover, the addition of bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody against Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor bevacizumab (VEGF), to systemic chemotherapy, improved both the response rates and the time to tumor progression in two trials. Early data from phase I/II trials examining the combination of these two biological agents in pre-treated patients with non-squamous NSCLC, showed no major pharmacokinetic interactions and promising clinical activity.
