(Update adds analyst reaction)
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - GlaxoSmithKline Plc has announced that it has
launched large-scale trials comparing its late-stage breast cancer drug Tykerb
against Herceptin in early-stage breast cancer.
The trial will evaluate and compare the rate at which cancer cells disappear
in the breast following treatment with lapatinib, the active ingredient in
Tykerb, and/or trastuzumab, the active ingredient Genetech Inc's Herceptin,
before surgery in women with early-stage ErbB2-positive (HER2-positive) positive
breast cancer.
It follows a similar trial launched to test the drug after surgery, and is
part of a process of trying to gain approval at an earlier stage in the
development of the disease.
Analyst Mike Ward at Nomura Code Securities said: "It's basically part of
that whole programme, they are trying to develop it for all aspects of women
with HER2-positive breast cancer.
"It's part of a whole programme that was put in place quite a while ago, in
fact if anything this might be thought of as a couple of months later than you'd
have expected. But the Alto study which is looking at adjuvant treatment is up
and running, this is the Neo Alto study, before the patient has the operation,
so it's all part of the same progression of clinical studies," he said.
The trial was announced by the company in collaboration with the Breast
International Group (BIG), a leading academic breast cancer research network,
and one of its member groups, the Spanish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group
(SOLTI).
ben.deighton@thomsonreuters.com
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