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Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 6, 431–432 (1 June 2007) | doi:10.1038/nrd2332

Lapatinib

Beverly Moy , Peter Kirkpatrick , Santwana Kar & Paul Goss

Lapatinib is a small-molecule kinase inhibitor that targets the epidermal growth factor receptor and the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). In March 2007, lapatinib distosylate monohydrate (Tykerb; GlaxoSmithKline) was approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic breast cancer whose tumours overexpress HER2 and who have received prior therapy including an anthracycline, a taxane and trastuzumab.