November 3, 2011 — Adding the targeted agent cetuximab (Erbitux) to chemotherapy significantly improves overall survival in some patients with nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and an approach to identifying the patients who will benefit has now been found.

The finding comes from an analysis of the FLEX study, published online November 4 in the Lancet Oncology. It was presented earlier this year at the World Conference on Lung Cancer, and reported at the time by Medscape Medical News.

The analysis shows that NSCLC patients who have a high expression of epidermal growth-factor receptor (EGFR) in their tumors have the best response when cetuximab (a monoclonal antibody directed against EGFR) is added to chemotherapy. This high EGFR expression was found in 31% of patients who were tested.