Results from a new global survey of lung cancer oncologists have shown that despite 81% of newly diagnosed advanced non-small cell lung cancer ( NSCLC ) patients being tested for EGFR mutations, a significant number of those tested were not receiving personalized treatments for their cancer type and mutation subtype.
The survey results from 562 oncologists from 10 countries ( Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain, Taiwan, UK and USA ) were presented at the 2015 European Lung Cancer Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

The survey highlighted that almost one in four advanced NSCLC patients were started on first-line treatment before their mutation test results were available, with significant differences between regions ( range: 12% in Asia to 30% in Europe ).
The main reasons for not testing all patients, aside from tumor histology, were insufficient tissue / uncertainty of sufficient tissue, poor patient fitness, and test results taking too long to come back.
In addition, half of all oncologists ( 51% ) stated that their treatment decision was not affected by EGFR mutation subtype. Again, there was significant variation between regions ( range: 28% in Asia to 60% in Europe ).

International guidelines recommend that EGFR mutation testing should be performed at diagnosis of advanced NSCLC and results should guide treatment decisions to ensure all patients receive targeted therapy according to their specific cancer type. This is important because patients who have advanced EGFR-mutated lung cancer can benefit from targeted treatments which can improve quality of life and progression-free survival compared to standard chemotherapy.
Furthermore, recent data have shown that a specific targeted therapy extended overall survival of patients with the most common type of mutation ( Del19 ) when compared to chemotherapy.

NSCLC is the most common form of lung cancer. Specific changes in the tumour, known as EGFR mutations, are found in 10-15% of white and 40% of East Asian patients with NSCLC.
There are different types of EGFR mutations, the most common being exon 19 deletions ( Del19 ) and the exon 21 ( L858R ) substitution. ( Xagena )

Source: Boehringer Ingelheim, 2015

XagenaMedicine2015