Breast cancer patients survive longer if they use Roche drug

Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG said its "armed antibody" T-DM1 drug significantly covered the lives of women with an aggressive type of breast cancer compared with those receiving the standard drug cocktail.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide, with about 1.4 million new events diagnosed each year and more than 450,000 women dying of the disease annually, allowing to the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Roche told its Genentech unit will soon submit a marketing application to the European Medicines Agency for trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) and has already enforced for a license with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Roche told the study of the drug had now met both primary efficacy endpoints of significant improvements in overall survival and advance free survival, adding it will present the data at an upcoming medical meeting.

Roche, the world's largest maker of cancer drugs, has been formulating T-DM1 as a successor to its blockbuster Herceptin, its 3rd biggest seller, which could be exposed to so-called "biosimilar" generic competition in Europe from around 2015.

Vontobel analyst Andrew Weiss told the data could be demonstrated at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December, predicting possible top sales for the drug of 1.7 billion Swiss francs ($1.8 billion).

"Roche is the dominant force in cancer and ... continues to drive innovation in this area," Weiss said as he affirmed his "buy" recommendation on Roche shares, which were up 0.3 percent by 0733 GMT.

The trial for women with breast cancer known as HER-2 positive - which makes up about a fifth of all breast cancers, equated T-DM1 to a combination of GlaxoSmithKline drug Tykerb, and Roche's Xeloda.

An advantage of T-DM1 over conventional treatment using Herceptin plus chemotherapy is that it causes fewer adverse slope consequences like hair loss and low white blood cell counts.

T-DM1 combines trastuzumab, an antibody and the active ingredient in Herceptin, with the agent DM1 - a derivative of a powerful type of chemotherapy predicted maytansine - which is carried directly into cells.

"We believe that antibody drug conjugates have the possible to change the future treatment of cancer," Roche Chief Medical Officer Hal Barron said in a statement.

In June, U.S. health regulators sanctioned Perjeta, another new breast cancer drug from Roche for HER2-positive women.

Genentech, which formulated Perjeta, suffered a blow last year when the FDA revoked approval for its blockbuster drug Avastin as a treatment for breast cancer, saying the drug was not effective enough to justify its risks. ($1 = 0.9594 Swiss francs)

To determine whether cancer has spread to the nearby lymph nodes, doctors may use a procedure called sentinel node biopsy. Doctors determine which lymph nodes are likely to be the first stop for spreading cancer cells by injecting a harmless dye or a weak radioactive solution near the tumor. The sentinel nodes — the first few lymph nodes into which the tumor drains — are removed and tested for cancer cells.

External beam radiation uses high-powered beams to kill cancer cells. Beams of radiation are precisely aimed at the breast cancer using a machine that moves around your body.

A simple, or total, mastectomy (left) removes the breast tissue, nipple, areola and skin, but not all the lymph nodes. A modified radical mastectomy (right) removes the entire breast, including the breast tissue, nipple, areola and skin, and most of the underarm (axillary) lymph nodes.

During a lumpectomy, your surgeon makes an incision large enough to remove the tumor and a margin of healthy tissue surrounding the tumor. The rest of your breast remains intact.