Roche Posts Positive Results From Breast-Cancer Drug Trial
March 02 2017 - 2:44AM
Dow Jones News
By Denise Roland
Roche Holding AG reported positive clinical trial results on
Thursday that could help cushion it against looming competition for
its best-selling cancer drug Herceptin and boost sales for its
newer Perjeta drug.
The Basel, Switzerland-based drug giant said early-stage breast
cancer patients who received chemotherapy, plus Herceptin and
Perjeta, lived longer without their disease returning than those
who had chemotherapy with just Herceptin.
The drugs were given to women with a form of breast cancer known
as HER-2 positive, following tumor-removal surgery.
The result expands the potential market for Perjeta, which is
already used in combination with Herceptin to treat women with
advanced breast cancer and in certain cases of the early-stage
disease.
Citi analyst Andrew Baum estimated that the positive result from
the trial would add as much as $2 billion a year to Perjeta sales.
In 2016, the drug generated 1.8 billion Swiss francs ($1.8 billion)
in revenue.
It could also lessen the impact from Herceptin's lower-cost
competitors, the first of which is expected to launch in Europe by
early 2018. Perjeta has already boosted sales of Herceptin because,
when taken together by advanced breast cancer patients, they extend
survival and prolong the treatment period.
Herceptin, which launched in 1998, is one of Roche's top-selling
drugs. It generated revenue of CHF6.8 billion in 2016.
-Write to Denise Roland at denise.roland@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 02, 2017 02:29 ET (07:29 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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