Roche's Tarceva boosts survival 22%

Swiss drug major Roche says that new results published in the April 25 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology show that adding Tarceva (erlotinib) to gemcitabine-based chemotherapy improves survival a significant 22% in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

According to the firm, this survival increase is impressive as pancreatic cancer as it has a high mortality rate responsible for over 80,000 deaths across Europe each year. Despite significant advances in the treatment of many other tumors, options for pancreatic patients are extremely limited and, until now, no new therapies have demonstrated an improvement in survival for the past decade, noted a company press release.

Malcolm Moore, chief of medical oncology and hematology at Princess Margaret Hospital, University of Toronto, Canada, said: "this is the first study in 10 years to demonstrate an improvement in survival in pancreatic cancer, and as a physician I'm delighted to have additional treatment options for my patients."