The epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors, gefitinib and erlotinib, are used as standard salvage therapy for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of the present study was to compare their efficacies in this population.

The Taiwan Cancer Registry and the National Health Insurance claim databases were searched for newly diagnosed patients with NSCLC from 2004 to 2007 who received gefitinib or erlotinib as third-line therapy. Overall survival (OS) and time to treatment failure (TTF) were determined from registered parameters. Treatment efficacies were compared by the log-rank test in total population and subsets with different clinical characteristics. The Cox’s proportion hazard model was used to estimate the adjusted hazard ratios in multivariate analyses.

A total of 984 patients who received gefitinib (67%) or erlotinib (33%) were included. Patients receiving gefitinib or erlotinib had similar OS (median, 10.2 versus 9.9months, p=0.524) and TTF (median, 5.5 versus 3.4months, p=0.103). In multivariate analyses, both treatment groups had similar risk of overall mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]=1.04, p=0.629) and treatment failure (adjusted HR=0.94, p=0.417). Comparing the treatments in subgroups based on age, tumour histology and gender also revealed no differences in OS and TTF. For patients who received gefitinib or erlotinib for more than 3 or 6months, there was no difference in TTF but patients who received erlotinib had longer OS.

Gefitinib and erlotinib had similar efficacies as salvage therapy for advanced NSCLC in Taiwan.