Targeted drug trial offers hope for tough cancers with genetic flaw

This trial is testing whether the drug afatinib can help control advanced cancers that have stopped responding to standard treatments. It is specifically for patients whose tumors have a specific genetic change (mutation) in a gene called EGFR, but who do not have lung cancer. The drug works by blocking the faulty signal from this gene that tells cancer cells to grow. Researchers are measuring if tumors shrink and how long the treatment keeps the cancer from getting worse.