Pemetrexed Disodium With or Without Sorafenib as Second-Line Therapy in Treating Patients With Stage IIIB or Stage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically or cytologically confirmed non-squamous cell non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

  * Stage IIIB or IV disease
  * Squamous cell carcinomas are not allowed

    * Adenosquamous histology allowed
* Measurable disease, defined as ≥ 1 lesion with longest diameter ≥ 2.0 cm by conventional techniques or ≥ 1.0 cm by spiral CT scan

  * No nonmeasurable disease only, including small lesions and truly nonmeasurable lesions, including any of the following:

    * Bone lesions
    * Leptomeningeal disease
    * Ascites
    * Pleural/pericardial effusion
    * Inflammatory breast disease
    * Lymphangitis cutis/pulmonis
    * Abdominal masses that are not confirmed and followed by imaging techniques
    * Cystic lesions
* Previously treated with 1 chemotherapy regimen, including adjuvant treatment

  * Prior treatment with adjuvant chemotherapy is allowed and not counted as a regimen
* Symptomatic pleural effusions should be drained prior to study entry

  * No symptomatic serosal effusion (≥ CTCAE v3.0 grade 2 dyspnea) that is not amenable to drainage prior to study entry
* Stable brain metastasis allowed provided the following criteria are met:

  * Treated with either whole brain radiotherapy or gamma knife surgery
  * More than 4 weeks since prior steroids

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

* ECOG performance status 0-1
* Life expectancy ≥ 12 weeks
* Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm³
* Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm³
* Hemoglobin ≥ 9 g/dL
* Total bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) OR direct bilirubin normal
* Creatinine clearance ≥ 45 mL/min
* AST and ALT ≤ 3 times ULN (5 times ULN if liver has tumor involvement)
* INR \< 1.5 OR PT/PTT normal
* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 2 weeks after completion of study treatment
* Able to take folic acid, cyanocobalamin, and dexamethasone
* No clinically significant infection
* No known HIV positivity
* No evidence or history of bleeding diathesis or coagulopathy
* No serious nonhealing wound, ulcer, or bone fracture
* No significant traumatic injury within the past 4 weeks
* No bleeding ≥ grade 2 (except grade 2 petechiae) within the past 4 weeks
* No second primary malignancy except carcinoma in situ of the cervix or nonmelanomatous skin cancer, unless malignancy was diagnosed and definitively treated ≥ 5 years ago with no subsequent evidence of recurrence

  * History of low-grade (Gleason score ≤ 6) localized prostate cancer allowed
  * Patients with a history of DCIS that has been definitively treated will be eligible even if diagnosed \< 5 years prior to registration
* No other severe underlying disease or condition that, in the opinion of the investigator, would preclude study compliance or increase risk for serious adverse events
* Able to swallow pills
* No concurrent severe and/or uncontrolled medical conditions, including any of the following:

  * Uncontrolled blood pressure, defined as systolic blood pressure (BP) \> 150 mm Hg and/or diastolic BP \> 100 mm Hg, in spite of adequate antihypertensive therapy
  * Angina pectoris
  * Congestive heart failure within the past 3 months, unless LVEF \> 40%
  * Myocardial infarction within the past 6 months
  * Cardiac arrhythmia
  * Diabetes mellitus
  * Active hemoptysis

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

* See Disease Characteristics
* Recovered from all prior therapy, except for alopecia
* No prior sorafenib tosylate or pemetrexed disodium
* No prior therapy with agents that target VEGF, VEGF receptor, or VEGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (prior bevacizumab is allowed)
* Prior radiotherapy allowed if all the following criteria are met:

  * No more than 25% of bone marrow was irradiated
  * Measurable disease, whether there is in-field disease progression/recurrence or disease outside the treatment fields of radiation port, is present
* No acetylsalicylic acid dose of ≥ 1.3 grams/day for ≥ 10 days before and after completion of study treatment
* At least 4 weeks since prior full-field radiotherapy
* At least 2 weeks since prior limited-field radiotherapy
* At least 4 weeks since prior major surgery (i.e., laparotomy) or open biopsy
* At least 2 weeks since prior minor surgery
* At least 3 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for mitomycin C and nitrosoureas)
* At least 2 weeks since prior immunotherapy, biologic therapy, or gene therapy
* At least 4 weeks prior hormonal therapy
* At least 4 weeks since other prior investigational agents
* No concurrent antiretroviral therapy
* No concurrent major surgery
* No concurrent steroids
* No concurrent therapeutic anticoagulation

  * Concurrent prophylactic anticoagulation (i.e., low-dose warfarin) of venous or arterial access devices allowed provided requirements for PT, INR, or PTT are met
* No concurrent Hypericum perforatum (St. John's wort)
* No concurrent grapefruit or grapefruit juice
* No concurrent prophylactic use of colony-stimulating factors
* No other concurrent anticancer agents or therapies