The difference between acotinib/acalatinib and erlotinib

Acalabrutinib/Acalabrutinib and Erlotinib are two drugs with significant effects in the field of anti-tumor. They have obvious differences in their mechanisms of action, indications, adverse reactions and clinical applications.

From the mechanism of action, acotinib is a second-generation BTK (Bruton tyrosine kinase) inhibitor. It binds to ATP cysteine 481 of BTK in an irreversible covalent manner, thereby inhibiting the proliferation and survival of B cells. Erlotinib is an EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) tyrosine kinase inhibitor that directly acts on EGFR to reduce EGFR autophosphorylation in tumor cells, thereby inhibiting tumor growth.

In terms of indications, acotinib is mainly used to treat adult patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who have received at least one previous therapy, as well as adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). Erlotinib is mainly used for the second-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. It has also been recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in combination with gemcitabine as the first-line treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer.

In terms of adverse reactions, the risk of adverse events related to off-target effects of acotinib is low, and the overall safety is good. Common adverse reactions of erlotinib include rash, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, etc., among which the incidence rates of rash and diarrhea are relatively high, 9% and 60% respectively. In addition, erlotinib may also cause adverse reactions such as abnormal liver function and gastrointestinal bleeding.

In clinical application, acotinib has shown good efficacy and safety in the treatment of lymphoma due to its high target selectivity and low incidence of adverse reactions. Erlotinib plays an important role in the treatment of tumors such as non-small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer because of its inhibitory effect on EGFR.