Gefitinib and Everolimus in Treating Patients With Stage IIIB or Stage IV or Recurrent Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) meeting 1 of the following stage criteria:
• Stage IIIB (unresectable, with malignant pleural or pericardial effusion)
• Stage IV disease
• Recurrent disease
• Measurable or evaluable indicator lesions
• Progressive disease after receiving ≥ 1 prior chemotherapy regimen that included cisplatin or carboplatin and docetaxel
• No uncontrolled brain or leptomeningeal metastases
• Must not require concurrent glucocorticoids for control of metastases

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• 18 and over

Performance status

• Karnofsky 70-100% OR
• ECOG 0-2

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• WBC ≥ 3,000/mm^3
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3
• Hemoglobin ≥ 9.0 g/dL

Hepatic

• Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• AST ≤ 2.5 times ULN

Renal

• Creatinine ≤ 1.5 times ULN OR
• Creatinine clearance ≥ 60 mL/min

Cardiovascular

• No congestive heart failure
• No New York Heart Association class III or IV heart disease
• No unstable angina

Other

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• No severe infection
• No severe malnutrition
• No other serious medical illness
• No other malignancy within the past 3 years except adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer or carcinoma of the cervix

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• No concurrent biologic therapy
• No concurrent immunotherapy

Chemotherapy

• See Disease Characteristics
• No prior conventional chemotherapy for metastatic or recurrent NSCLC (phase II only)
• At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy
• No other concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

• See Disease Characteristics
• No concurrent oral steroids for management of skin toxicity

Radiotherapy

• At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy
• No concurrent radiotherapy

Surgery

• At least 4 weeks since prior major surgery
• No concurrent surgery for an identifiable lesion

Other

• Recovered from all prior therapy
• No prior gefitinib, erlotinib, or other epidermal growth factor tyrosine kinase inhibitor
• No concurrent cytotoxic therapy (e.g., methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis)
• No other concurrent oncolytic agents