Roche got a big disappointment today: The cancer drug Avastin failed a clinical trial in stomach cancer, one of the new indications the drugmaker had been aiming for. The company had predicted sales for stomach-cancer patients could have reached as high as 1 billion Swiss francs, or $933 million.
Here's the scoop: Avastin failed to meet its primary target of extending overall survival in patients using it in combination with chemotherapy, compared with patients on a combo of placebo and chemotherapy, Roche says. "We are disappointed with these results because treatment options for stomach cancer are limited," CMO Hal Barron says in a statement.
Roche says it didn't find any new safety problems in the trial, and that it'll continue working on other new indications for Avastin. Next up: Data on Avastin use in ovarian cancer, expected sometime in the first half of this year.
- check out Roche's release [1]
- read the Reuters story [2]
Related Articles:
Kaiser trial supports Avastin eye use [3]
NICE spurns Avastin for bowel cancer [4]
Data backs Avastin as second-line treatment [5]
Avastin gets another FDA nod [6]
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/press-releases/phase-iii-study-avastin-plus-chemotherapy-advanced-stomach-cancer-did-not-meet-primar
[2] http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE61M05O20100223
[3] http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/kaiser-trial-supports-avastin-eye-use/2010-02-02
[4] http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/nice-spurns-avastin-bowel-cancer/2009-11-25
[5] http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/data-backs-roches-avastin-second-line-treatment/2009-08-18
[6] http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/avastin-gets-another-fda-nod/2009-08-03