A time to test, a time to treat

Nearly thirty years ago, the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) was identified as a suitable target for cancer therapeutics (1,2). Over the subsequent three decades, oncologists have sought to harness the observation that the proliferation of some malignant cells is dependent on activation of the EGFR and subsequent downstream propagation of signaling via the intracellular tyrosine kinase. Drugs such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) targeting this pathway were tested in a variety of malignancies, with occasional excellent responses seen in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (3).