Bulletin du cancer
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Recent advances in cancer therapy have resulted in the development of drugs that target mechanisms involved in neoplastic change and angiogenesis. One example is gefitinib ('Iressa', ZD1839), an orally-active epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) that blocks EGFR signaling in vitro, thereby inhibiting the growth, proliferation and survival of many solid tumors. Clinical trial data show that gefitinib monotherapy is generally well tolerated in patients with a wide range of tumor types (including lung, head and neck, colon, breast, and prostate cancers). ⋯ Furthermore, the majority of patients who had an objective response also experienced symptom improvement. Gefitinib has been approved for the treatment of advanced NSCLC in Japan, the USA, and other countries. This review discusses the potential of gefitinib in a wide range of solid tumors. 'Iressa' is a trademark of the AstraZeneca group of companies.
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Traditional pain management strategies for cancer pain have relied on the use of opioids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and other adjuvant analgesics. However, the substantial adverse effects associated with their use has left many patients without dependable options for effective treatment. ⋯ Numerous studies have shown that coxibs are efficacious in the management of chronic and acute pain in various clinical settings including postoperative pain. The superior safety profile of coxibs in conjunction with a comparable efficacy to nonselective NSAIDs supports the use of coxibs in balanced analgesic regimens and provides the potential to incorporate coxibs into the pain management algorithm used to treat cancer pain.