Tarceva Basics
Topics in this Section
- What is Tarceva?
- How to take Tarceva
- Possible common side effects of Tarceva
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What is Tarceva?
Tarceva (erlotinib) is a pill taken by mouth once a day to treat your cancer. Tarceva is used for patients with advanced NSCLC who have received at least one previous chemotherapy regimen. You may be a candidate for maintenance treatment with Tarceva if your tumor has not spread or grown during the initial treatment, or your disease remained stable during the initial treatment. You may be a candidate for second or third-line treatment if previous chemotherapy did not work.
Tarceva may help some patients live longer.
Maintenance treatment with Tarceva has been shown to extend overall survival time and increase the time until the cancer gets worse. In a large study in people with advanced NSCLC who received Tarceva as a maintenance treatment: Patients who took Tarceva had a median overall survival time of 12 months versus patients who took a placebo (sugar pill) had a median overall survival of time of 11 months. 29% of patients (about 1 in 3 patient) who took Tarceva had a reduction in the risk of their cancer getting worse or of death.
As a second/third line treatment, Tarceva has shown to help some patients live longer. In a large study in people with advanced NSCLC who have not taken Tarceva before and whose cancer has grown or spread after at least 1 prior chemotherapy regimen: 31% (about 1 in 3 patients) who took Tarceva was still living one year later versus 22% (about 1 in 5 patients) who took a placebo (sugar pill) was still living 1 year later. Patients who took Tarceva had a median overall survival time of 6.7 months versus patients who took placebo (sugar pill) had a median overall survival time of 4.7 months.
Tarceva may offer convenience.
You take the pill by mouth once a day, every day. Tarceva should be taken at the same time each day between meals on an empty stomach (at least one hour before or two hours after eating).



