As Roche prepared to make presentations of data from two clinical trials at the European Society of Medical Oncology meetings in Milan, its CEO Severin Schwan took the opportunity to pump its two oncology drugs T-DM1 for breast cancer and MetMab for lung cancer. He claimed both drugs had performed extraodinarily well in their latest clinical paces and the data would be exciting.
T-DM1, an antibody drug conjugate (ADC) of Herceptin, demonstrated higher efficacy and lower toxicity than Herceptin in a head to head comparative study. The study still needs to answer the question as to whether T-DM1 does a better job in preventing tumors from spreading - a key endpoint. T-DM1 is being watched very closely by the industry as it is one of the few ADCs in late clinical trials. Genentech is betting that the new drug will improve upon the original, which now generates more than $5 billion in annual worldwide sales.
“We are encouraged by the results,” said Edith Perez, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Florida, and the lead investigator of the trial, in a statement. “The study demonstrated that T-DM1 has very good anti-tumor activity as well as much lower toxicity when evaluated side by side to the older ’standard’.”
See Xconomy and Fierce Biotech.
Posted by Bruce Lehr October 8th 2010.
Luke Timmerman update on thsi story (Oct 9th) regarding T-DM1 results vs Herceptin head to head
http://www.xconomy.com/san-francisco/2010/10/08/genentechs-souped-up-breast-cancer-drug-beats-original-herceptin-in-head-to-head-study/
Posted by: bigredbruce | 10/09/2010 at 10:15 AM
Reuters reports this morning (Oct 9th) that Tarceva and MetMab lung cancer results are impressive
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE69800X20101009
Posted by: bigredbruce | 10/09/2010 at 10:08 AM