A new class of drugs offers hope to lung cancer patients who have a specific mutation in their tumour cells.

LG LAU was in her mid-thirties when she was first diagnosed with lung cancer. She had caught a normal cold, and her early symptoms included persistent coughing, shortness of breath, loss of weight and a hoarse voice.

When her cough worsened and wouldnt go away for several weeks, she went to see a doctor, who diagnosed her condition as tuberculosis.

After taking the prescribed medication for about two weeks, there was no improvement in her condition.

In fact, her health gradually worsened, and by the end of the third week, she had difficulty eating and started losing weight.

By the end of the month, she became too weak to move around on her own and had to get about in a wheelchair.

Her husband finally couldnt bear to watch her suffer any longer, and in spite of her protests, brought her to see a specialist, who ordered a chest X-ray and CT scan.

The results were conclusive; although she had never smoked in her life, she was diagnosed with Stage 3B non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Her doctor insisted that she go for a follow-up biopsy to determine if she was EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) mutation positive. EGFR is a cell membrane receptor found on tumour cells, which shows increased activity in cancer cases.

The results came back positive, so her doctor put her on drugs that inhibit EGFR (called EGFR-specific tyrosine kinase inhibitors, or EGFR-TKI) for a month as part of her first-line treatment.

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Medicine for a mutation