The drug Tarceva, made by OSI Pharmaceuticals has been found to cause an increase in survival rates in lung cancer patients when the drug is administered after chemotherapy treatments. The chief executive officer of the company, Colin Goddard, was pleased to announce the results. This drug may be the first in a wave of new treatments for cancer.

This drug works by stopping the growth of non small cell cancer cells, which then slows and even eliminates the cancer’s spread throughout the body. The study involved 889 patients who were given at least four cycles chemotherapy and were then treated with either once-daily Tarceva or a placebo if the disease did not progress during chemotherapy.

Shares of the Melville, N.Y.based Company rose $5.03, or 14.1 percent, to $40.39 in afternoon trading. The stock has traded between $32.10 and $53.71 over the last 52 weeks, according to Forbes.

The trial was conducted by Roche Holding of Switzerland and full results will be reported at a future medical conference. OSI Pharmaceuticals will be sharing this surplus revenue with Genentech, which is a company that develops drugs, as well as Roche Holding AG, an investing company. Tarceva is already approved as a secondary treatment for patients who have not responded to earlier chemotherapy and the companies hope to gain approval for the drug as part of a first line of treatment.

The clinical trial involved 889 patients at 160 lung cancer treatment centers worldwide. The patients were given Tarceva, a once-per-day oral drug after receiving at least four cycles of standard chemotherapy. A control group was given placebo. The patients who received Tarceva significantly extended their life without advancing cancer. However Tarceva is not a wonder drug, as it failed to prolong the lives of patients in other trials when used along with Avastin, a cancer drug made by Genentech.
Lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer-related death in men and the second most common in women, is responsible for 1.3 million deaths worldwide annually.The most common symptoms are shortness of breath, coughing (including coughing up blood), and weight loss.

"We are pleased by the findings as they represent another step forward in our hopes of providing more options to patients throughout their battle with lung cancer," said Hal Barron, M.D., Genentech's senior vice president, Development and chief medical officer.

As far as the side effects are concerned, according to a document issued by FDA, Tarceva can cause severe or non-stop diarrhea, nausea, loss of appetite, or vomiting, new or worse trouble breathing or cough, tiredness, inflammation of the mouth, rash, itching, dry skin, and eye irritation.

But the important thing is that Tarceva, which is relatively unusual among cancer treatments in that it is given by mouth rather than injection, is one of a new generation of targeted drugs that attack only cancer cells and are tolerated better than traditional chemotherapy.