Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Gefitinib

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 3, pages 556–557 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Gefitinib (Iressa; AstraZeneca) is the first in a new class of targeted anticancer drugs that inhibit the tyrosine kinase activity of the epidermal growth factor receptor. Following Japanese approval in 2002, gefitinib was approved by the US FDA in May 2003 for the treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer after other treatment options have failed. Despite several setbacks during the development of gefitinib, might it now be back on the path to blockbuster status?

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Gefitinib.
Figure 2: Market for drugs to treat NSCLC in US $ million.

References

  1. Parkin, D. M. et al. Cancer burden in the year 2000. The global picture. Eur. J. Cancer 37, S4–S66 (2001).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Cersosimo, R. J. Lung cancer: a review. Am. J. Health Syst. Pharm. 59, 611–642 (2002).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Dancey, J. & Sausville, E. A. Issues and progress with protein kinase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 2, 325–334 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Yarden, Y. & Sliwkowski, M. X. Untangling the ErbB signalling network. Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 2, 127–137 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Baselga, J. Why the epidermal growth factor receptor? The rationale for cancer therapy. The Oncologist 7(S4), 2–8 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Salomon, D. S. et al. Epidermal growth factor-related peptides and their receptors in human malignancies. Crit. Rev. Oncol. Hematol. 19, 183–232 (1995).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Barker, A. J. Studies leading to the identification of ZD1839 (IRESSA): an orally active, selective epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeted to the treatment of cancer. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 11, 1911–1914 (2001).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. FDA Drug Approvals List [online] (cited 28 May 2003) <http://www.fda.gov/cder/foi/label/2003/21399_iressa_lbl.pdf> (2003).

  9. Wakeling, A. E. et al. ZD1839 (Iressa): an orally active inhibitor of epidermal growth factor signaling with potential for cancer therapy. Cancer Res. 62, 5749–5754 (2002).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Decision Resources Intl, 50–51 Russell Square, London, WC1B 4HQ, UK

    Peter Kirkpatrick

  2. Decision Resources Intl, 50–51 Russell Square, London, WC1B 4HQ, UK

    Mohamed Muhsin & Joanne Graham

Authors
  1. Mohamed Muhsin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Joanne Graham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Peter Kirkpatrick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Muhsin, M., Graham, J. & Kirkpatrick, P. Gefitinib. Nat Rev Cancer 3, 556–557 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc1159

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc1159

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing