The cancer drug Erbitux prolonged the lives of patients with advanced lung cancer by five weeks, according to a new clinical study described as an important gain for such individuals. "Patients with advanced NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer) have limited treatment options and life expectancy is short, so the survival increase shown in this study is an important step for these patients,' said Robert Pirker of the Medical University of Vienna, a lead investigator in the study. Lung cancer patients typically have a 30% chance of living a year and a 1-2% chance of surviving five years, Pirker explained Sunday at the 44th annual conference of the American College of Clinical Oncology. The clinical trial financed by Merck involved 1,125 patients in 30 countries with lung cancer that had already metastasized, or spread to other parts of the body. Patients treated with Erbitux combined with chemotherapy lived a median 11.3 months, compared to 10.1 months for a control group given just chemotherapy.