CASE REPORT article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1596913
Potential Interactions between Traditional Chinese Medicine and Osimertinib: A Case Report
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of pharmacy, Chongqing University Cancer Hospital, Chongqing, China
- 2Department of Medical Oncology, Chongqing University Cancer Hospital, Chongqing, China
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Osimertinib, a third-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, played a crucial role in the treatment of EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).This case firstly reported a case of drug-drug interaction between traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and osimertinib. A 57-year-old female was diagnosed with stage IV lung adenocarcinoma, who switched from gefitinib to osimertinib after disease progression. However, the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) results suggested biochemical recurrence after 48 months. The first osimertinib trough concentration (Ctrough) was 82.1 ng/mL, significantly lower than the FDA-reported 166 ng/mL, with concurrent elevation of the tumor marker carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). After excluding other possible factors, the decreased osimertinib concentration might be due to the TCM taken by the patient. After adjusting the TCM prescription, the patient's osimertinib Ctrough was stable within the range of 145 and 228 ng/mL without significant adverse reactions and CEA levels stabilized. This case underscored the importance of monitoring drug concentrations in patients concurrently using TCM and osimertinib to optimize treatment outcomes and minimize potential drug-drug interactions.
Keywords: Osimertinib, Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Drug-Drug Interaction, Non-small cell lung cancer, Therapeutic drug monitoring
Received: 20 Mar 2025; Accepted: 16 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Ma, Chen and Yuan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Wanyi Chen, Department of pharmacy, Chongqing University Cancer Hospital, Chongqing, China
Zhongzhen Yuan, Department of pharmacy, Chongqing University Cancer Hospital, Chongqing, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.