Roche to show new cancer data at European congress
pharmafile | September 20, 2011 | News story | Research and Development | Cancer, Roche, T-DM1, Zelboraf, avastin
Roche will highlight a range of new approaches in targeting cancer at the upcoming European cancer conference.
In a series of abstracts released ahead of the European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress in Stockholm, which starts on Friday, Roche has included new data for its combination breast cancer drug T-DM1 and eagerly awaited overall survival data for its skin cancer drug Zelboraf.
T-DM1 uses a new, targeted antibody that can kill breast cancer cells at a later stage of the disease after the failure of other chemotherapy and cancer drugs.
A phase II study comparing T-DM1 (trastuzumab emtansine) to Herceptin (trastuzumab) plus chemotherapy in people with previously untreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer will be presented at the congress, which will for the first time show the drug’s progression-free survival data.
For its recently approved melanoma drug Zelboraf (vemurafenib), Roche will present new top-line phase I results that will feature longer-term overall survival data, including the two-year survival rate.
It will also provide updated data from the phase I and III (BRIM3) studies of Zelboraf in BRAF V600E-mutation positive metastatic melanoma, which has been eagerly awaited after earlier data promised strong results for the drug.
Avastin biomarker
For its established drug Avastin (bevacizumab), which is approved for a number of cancers fueled by the VEGF mutation, Roche says an extensive search for a biomarker aiming to predict which people could benefit from Avastin has been ongoing for more than a decade.
In new data over 100 candidate markers have been assessed in more than 20 phase III Avastin clinical trials across seven cancer types, with a sub-type of the VEGF mutation – VEGF-A – emerging as a leading candidate.
Data relating to VEGF-A will be presented in several indications including advanced breast, pancreatic and lung cancer, as well as data from other candidates within the ongoing biomarker programme.
Avastin has had a tough time recently with the FDA pulling its breast cancer licence earlier this year after updated data failed to prove its efficacy, and Roche will hope to show at Stockholm that the Avastin franchise still has more to give.
Hal Barron, head of global product development, said: “Our data at this congress demonstrate our long-term commitment to understanding and targeting cancer pathways and personalising medicines.
“These advances in incurable diseases encourage us to continue to develop new and better medicines for people with cancer.”
Roche will be presenting its data from its investigational and approved medicines at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress in Stockholm, being held 23-27 September.
Ben Adams
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