Early Use of Newer Agents for Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Background: Previous studies have reported on the patterns of use of first-line chemotherapy with platinum doublets in advanced NSCLC. There are no studies of patterns of use of newer agents in advanced NSCLC. We evaluated the nationwide incidence and predictors of use of new agents including bevacizumab, erlotinib, and pemetrexed. Methods: We retrospectively selected patients with stage IIIB/IV NSCLC diagnosed in 2005 from a random sample drawn from SEER registries to abstract data on clinical and socio-demographic factors and types of anti-cancer drug regimens for up to two years from diagnosis. We used descriptive statistics to report the incidence of use of bevacizumab, erlotinib, and pemetrexed. We used multiple logistic regression to detect predictors of treatment with these new agents.