Herceptin shows "unprecendented" stomach cancer efficacy

Swiss drug major Roche plans to present results from the pivotal ToGA study at the forthcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting  in Orlando at the end of the month that show unprecedented benefits  associated with Herceptin (trastuzumab) in helping patients with  inoperable stomach cancer live longer, similar to the benefit observed  in HER2-positive breast cancer.

Results from the ToGA study which investigated the use of Herceptin in  combination with chemotherapy (Xeloda [capecitabine] /intravenous  5-fluorouracil and cisplatin) will show how biomarker guided therapy  could change the treatment of this devastating disease. Every year one  million people worldwide are diagnosed with stomach cancer and 800,000  people die, noted the Basel-based firm.

Roche will also make a number of significant data presentations at ASCO,  which confirm that therapy with Avastin (bevacizumab) as the standard of  care in metastatic colorectal cancer with proven efficacy in all patient  sub-groups. Results will be presented for mid-stage studies in other  types of cancer as well. Avastin is being tested in more than 450  clinical studies worldwide and more than 30 different tumor types.