About gefitinib

As our understanding of how normal and cancer cells grow (divide) and die increases, new approaches to the treatment of cancer are developed. One of these advances focuses on the way in which cells receive the signals that tell them whether to grow or die.

Normally, cell growth is tightly controlled by the signals the cells receive. In cancer, however, this signalling goes wrong, and the cells continue to grow and divide in an uncontrolled fashion, forming a tumour.

One of these signalling pathways begins when a chemical in the body, called epidermal growth factor, binds to a receptor which is found on the surface of many cells in the body.

The receptor, known as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) sends signals into the cells, through the activation of an enzyme called tyrosine kinase (TK) which is found within the cells. The signals tell the cell to grow and divide.