PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:~I. Determine the response rate in patients with stage IIIB or IV non-small cell lung cancer treated with sorafenib.~II. Determine the clinical toxic effects of this drug in these patients.~SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:~I. Determine the 24-week progression-free survival rate in patients treated with this drug.~II. Determine the overall survival of patients treated with this drug. III. Determine the time to disease progression in patients treated with this drug.~IV. Correlate predictive disease markers (K-ras and B-raf mutations and ERK/pERK, AKT/pAKT, and VEGFR2/p-VEGFR2 expression) in these patients with the activity of this drug.~OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.~Patients receive oral sorafenib twice daily on days 1-28. Courses repeat every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.~Patients are followed every 6 months for up to 5 years.
This phase II trial is studying how well sorafenib works in treating patients with stage IIIB or stage IV non-small cell lung cancer. Sorafenib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. It may also stop the growth of non-small cell lung cancer by blocking blood flow to the tumor.