By Andrew Morse
Novartis AG (NOVN.VX) said on Friday its Afinitor drug failed to
make a significant difference in disease-free survival of patients
with a type of advanced breast cancer that affects about a fifth of
women diagnosed with the disease.
Basel-based Novartis said a late-stage test showed that patients
taking Afinitor along with Roche Holding AG's (ROG.VX) Herceptin
breast cancer treatment and paclitaxel, a chemotherapy drug, lived
for an average of 15 months without experiencing a worsening of
their disease. By comparison, patients getting a placebo plus
Herceptin and paclitaxel went an average of 14.5 months without the
disease worsening.
"The results did not demonstrate statistical significance,"
Novartis said in a statement, though they were "clinically
relevant." The results were presented at the San Antonio Breast
Cancer Symposium.
The test, which involved 719 patients, was designed to see
whether Afinitor would be effective in treating women with advanced
HER2-positive breast cancer. HER2 is a protein linked to
cancer.
Afinitor is already approved in the U.S. and European Union for
treating some types of breast cancer.
Write to Andrew Morse at Andrew.Morse@wsj.com
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