Roche and OSI's Tarceva shows impressive ability to stall lung cancer

Swiss drug major Roche (ROG: SIX) and partner OSI Pharmaceuticals, now part of Japan’s Astellas (TYO: 4503), have presented impressive results from the first Phase III study with Tarceva (erlotinib) in Western patients with a genetically mutated type of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) taking place in Chicago, June 3 to 7.

Results showed that first-line treatment with erlotinib nearly doubled the time people with advanced NSCLC with a specific genetic mutation lived without their disease getting worse compared with chemotherapy (median progression-free survival or PFS: 9.7 months compared with 5.2 months respectively). Erlotinib significantly reduced the risk of the disease getting worse by 63% compared with standard chemotherapy (hazard ratio=0.37, p<0.0001).

The EURTAC trial investigated patients with a genetic mutation in a protein called EGFR (Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor) which is known to be involved in the growth and development of cancers. This mutation occurs in approximately 11% of lung cancer patients in the Western population. Biomarker analyses from the Phase III placebo-controlled Saturn study of maintenance erlotinib following first-line chemotherapy for advanced NSCLC and approximately 30% of Asian patients.