Afatinib for patients with epidermal growth factor receptor mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer: clinical implications of the LUX-Lung 7 study

We thank Professor Lee for his interest in our recent LUX-Lung 7 publication that assessed afatinib versus gefitinib in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR ) mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (1). We agree that, in an ideal world, afatinib and gefitinib would have been compared in a Phase III trial with a formal hypothesis. However, given the lack of data available at the conception of LUX-Lung 7 (2010‒2011), we made the pragmatic decision to undertake an exploratory Phase IIb trial.