The promising activity of erlotinib as a single agent in advanced refractory NSCLC along with its oral administration and favorable adverse event profile makes this agent an excellent candidate to incorporate into combined modality therapy in the early stages of lung cancer. Based on these data, erlotinib is an attractive novel approach to maintenance therapy in unresectable stage III NSCLC following completion of concomitant chemoradiation. Although, a subset of patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC will be long-term survivors following chemotherapy and thoracic radiation therapy, the vast majority relapse within the first year following therapy and eventually die from chemotherapy refractory disease. We hypothesize that the introduction of an potent tyrosine kinase inhibitor to the epidermal growth factor receptor following effective concomitant chemoradiotherapy with docetaxel and carboplatin will prolong the progression-free survival time for these patients.
