Roche's Aphinity Succeeds, Boosting Breast-Cancer Business
- Swiss drugmaker plans to discuss study results with regulators
- Shares gain 6.9 percent on optimism of cancer sales boost
A sign stands outside the entrance of the Roche Holding AG headquarters in in Basel, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015. Roche Holding AG Chief Executive Officer Severin Schwan blasted a U.K. decision to stop funding some cancer drugs, calling the choice 'stupid'.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergRoche Holding AG’s breast cancer medicine Perjeta succeeded in the drugmaker’s most hotly anticipated patient study, a key step for a franchise that could exceed $9 billion in sales by 2021. The stock soared.
Patients who took Perjeta alongside chemotherapy and Roche’s long-used drug Herceptin after surgery for early breast cancer faced a lower risk of dying or seeing tumors return than those on the older treatments alone, the Swiss drugmaker said in a statement Thursday. Roche didn’t disclose the magnitude of the benefit, which doctors and regulators will scrutinize to determine whether and how to change treatment for thousands of women.