Roche's Avastin is first drug to extend survival in patients with advanced NSCLC beyond one year

Swiss drug major Roche says that new data in the December 14 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine show that Avastin (bevacizumab) is the first medicine to extend survival beyond one year in patients with previously untreated non-small cell lung cancer.

According to the firm, the landmark US study (E4599) showed that the median duration of survival in the Avastin plus paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy group was 12.3 months compared to 10.3 months in the group treated with chemotherapy alone. Overall, patients receiving Avastin plus chemotherapy had an approximate 27% improvement in survival compared to those treated with chemotherapy alone.

"This is the first large, randomized clinical study in which an anti-angiogenic, combined with chemotherapy, extended survival beyond one year, in patients with advanced lung cancer," said Alan Sandler, director of Medical Thoracic Oncology at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and Study Chair for the E4599 trial. "The results of this study have changed the treatment standard-of-care for this devastating disease - an important step forward for patients with advanced lung cancer," he added.