Targeted Therapy and Other Drugs for Lung Neuroendocrine Tumors

Cabozantinib blocks several enzymes that help the tumor grow and divide, called tyrosine kinases (such as RET, MET, and VEGFR2). It can help slow tumor growth in different ways. This drug is a pill taken once a day.

Possible side effects

The most common side effects are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, fatigue, poor appetite, and high blood pressure.

Rare but serious side effects include bleeding, clotting, severe high blood pressure, liver damage, difficulty with wound healing, harm to a fetus, and palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia (PPE), which is redness, pain, and skin peeling of the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet.

Everolimus blocks a protein known as mTOR, which normally helps cells grow and divide. Everolimus has been shown to help treat advanced lung NETs. Everolimus is a pill taken once a day.

Possible side effects

Common side effects of this drug include mouth sores, infections, loss of appetite, diarrhea, tiredness, cough, and increases in blood sugar and triglyceride levels.

A less common but serious side effect is damage to the lungs, which can cause shortness of breath (dyspnea) or other problems.

One version of octreotide is short-acting and is injected 2 to 4 times a day under the skin. There is also a long-acting form of the drug called Sandostatin LAR Depot that only needs to be injected into a muscle every 4 weeks.

Depending on the severity of symptoms, some people are given injections every day when first starting treatment. Once symptoms are controlled, the longer-acting monthly injection may be used. Other times, the long-acting drug may be started from the beginning.

This is a long-acting somatostatin analog. Most often, it is given every 4 weeks, by injection under the skin. Occasionally, your doctor might recommend this injection every 2 weeks.

These drugs may be given by your doctor or nurse, or you may learn to give the injection at home.