The combination of chemotherapy [such as docetaxel] with continuous administration of targeted drugs which block the molecular machinery of cancer cell growth [such as erlotinib] have failed to improve their efficacy over only-chemotherapy in patients with metastatic lung cancer of the non-small cell histology type. It is not yet known whether administering targeted drugs intermittently could result in improved efficacy of the combinations. This is a multicenter randomized Phase II trial aiming to determine the more active dosing sequence between intermittent erlotinib and docetaxel for treating patients with advanced Non-Small-Lung-Cancer.Patients will be randomly assigned to one of two treatment arms: they will receive a 12-days course of erlotinib either before docetaxel [arm A] or after docetaxel administration [arm B].Treatment will be repeated every 21 days.Patients will be evaluated every 2 cycles (~6 weeks) for response using RECIST criteria. Those patients achieving stable disease or better will continue therapy up to a total 8 cycles. Those patients experiencing progressive disease will be taken off study. Biopsy material will be assessed for biomarkers.
To determine the more effective dosing sequence of intermittent erlotinib and docetaxel for treating patients with the diagnosis of advanced Non-Small-Lung-Cancer