Avastin slows progress of breast cancer in trial
May 31st, 2008 | by admin |CHICAGO (Reuters) - The addition of Genentech Inc’s cancer drug Avastin to chemotherapy slows the progress of breast cancer, according to results of a large international trial released on Saturday.
The trial showed that after 11 months, patients treated with a high dose of Avastin were 28 percent less likely to have their disease get worse compared with patients on chemotherapy alone. Those given a low dose of the drug were 21 percent less likely to have tumor growth compared to chemotherapy alone.
Avastin, known chemically as bevacizumab, is already approved in the United States — at the higher dose of 15 mg per kilogram and in combination with paclitaxel chemotherapy — as an initial treatment for patients diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. U.S. sales totaled $2.3 billion last year.
The trial presented at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago involves treatment with another taxane chemotherapy agent, docetaxel, sold under the brand name Taxotere.
Taxotere is more commonly used in Europe, Asia and Australia, while U.S. oncologists are more likely to use paclitaxel, or Taxol.
Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG sells Avastin outside of the United States and holds a majority stake in Genentech.
The trial involving 736 patients showed that breast cancer tumors shrank in 63.1 percent of patients on high-dose Avastin, 55.2 percent on low-dose Avastin and 44.4 percent in the placebo plus chemotherapy group.
Severe side effects, such as high blood pressure, were seen in 74.1 percent of patients in the high-dose group, 74.8 percent of the low-dose group and 67 percent of the chemotherapy-alone group.
Bowel perforations occurred in two patients in the placebo group and one patient in each of the Avastin groups.
(Reporting by Deena Beasley; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
