EGFR and cancer: Gefitinib (‘Iressa’, ZD1839 (‘Iressa’ is a trademark of the AstraZeneca group of companies)), an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, exhibits a broad antitumour spectrum against human cancers in vitro and demonstrated therapeutic benefit in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (Ciardiello et al, 2000; Sirotnak et al, 2000; Herbst and Bunn, 2003).