Roche's T-DM1 Treatment Halted Spread of Breast Cancer in Mid-Stage Study
Roche Holding AG (ROG) said an experimental medicine was effective in a mid-stage study of patients with breast cancer whose disease has spread.
The therapy, called T-DM1, kept breast tumors at bay for “significantly longer” than a treatment that involved docetaxel chemotherapy and Roche’s Herceptin cancer drug, the Basel, Switzerland-based company said today in a statement. The patients, whose tumors were linked to the HER2 protein and who hadn’t been given previous therapy, also experienced fewer side effects, it said.
T-DM1 is an “armed antibody” that combines a cancer- killing chemotherapy with Herceptin. The medicine was developed with U.S. partner Immunogen Inc. (IMGN) Herceptin acts as a guidance system, using its ability to home in on cancer cells to deliver the drug directly to its target. Roche said in 2010 that clearance for T-DM1 would be delayed for at least two years after U.S. regulators turned down an application for accelerated approval.
Detailed findings from the study will be presented at a future medical congress, Roche said. A previous analysis of the same clinical trial found that T-DM1 helped shrink tumors and caused fewer side effects.
Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in females and strikes about 1 million women a year globally, according to the Geneva-based World Health Organization.
To contact the reporter on this story: Dermot Doherty in Geneva at ddoherty9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Phil Serafino at pserafino@bloomberg.net
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