Pemetrexed had significantly better clinical efficacy in patients with stage IV lung adenocarcinoma with susceptible EGFR mutations receiving platinum-based chemotherapy after developing resistance to the first-line gefitinib treatment

Increased evidences show that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as gefitinib could prolong progression-free survival (PFS) compared with cytotoxic chemotherapy for metastatic lung nonsquamous cell carcinoma harboring susceptible EGFR mutation, and gefitinib was served as the first-line therapy. However, acquired resistance is inevitable, but the salvage therapies are still unclear