Tarceva Basics

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Taking Tarceva

Tarceva is a once-a-day pill. You should not take Tarceva with food. Taking Tarceva with food may increase your chances of developing side effects.

What is Tarceva?

Tarceva (erlotinib) is a prescription pill taken once a day by mouth to treat advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). Tarceva is used for patients with advanced NSCLC who have received at least one previous chemotherapy regimen that did not work or stopped working.

Tarceva may help patients live longer.

In a large clinical study, Tarceva was proven to significantly prolong survival in patients with advanced NSCLC who have received at least one previous chemotherapy regimen that did not work.

In this large clinical study, 31.2% of patients taking Tarceva were living with their NSCLC one year after they started Tarceva, compared with 21.5% of patients not taking Tarceva (placebo). That's a 45% increase in one-year survival for patients taking Tarceva. How well Tarceva works for the patient may differ from these study results.

Tarceva is convenient.

Tarceva is a pill taken once a day. This means you may need to make fewer trips with the patient to the doctor's office or clinic. Tarceva should be taken at the same time each day between meals (at least one hour before or two hours after eating).

Tarceva is easy to administer.

Unlike some other cancer treatments, Tarceva does not require any special handling precautions. (However, like all medicines, Tarceva should be kept out of the reach of children.) This may make it easier for you to give -- and the patient to take -- Tarceva.