New Roche Data to be Presented at ASCO Offers Further Hope for Cance...( BASEL Switzerland May 15 /- Patie...),Health

BASEL, Switzerland, May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Patients with breast or colorectal cancer, two of the world's most common cancers, can expect further treatment advances with Avastin(R) (bevacizumab) and Herceptin(R) (trastuzumab) following new data that is being presented at the 44th American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago at the end of May. Around 30,000 medical experts will attend the meeting which is the premier event for cancer therapy worldwide.

The Roche data will show that Avastin and Herceptin are continuing to offer further hope of improving survival in patients with cancers that are still devastating thousands of lives each year.

Breast cancer

-- Avastin: Late-breaking Phase III data from the AVADO study

investigating Avastin in combination with docetaxel (docetaxel, also

known as Taxotere, is one of the most commonly used chemotherapies for

breast cancer) will highlight the encouraging efficacy and safety

results in patients treated first-line for locally recurrent or

metastatic HER-2 negative breast cancer.

-- Herceptin: New results using Herceptin-based therapy for patients with

aggressive HER-2 positive breast cancer will also be unveiled. The

GBG26 study data will focus on the importance of continued treatment

with Herceptin in women with advanced metastatic breast cancer whose

disease progressed on a Herceptin-based therapy.

-- Pertuzumab: Very promising phase II data will be presented on the

investigational drug pertuzumab which will highlight the benefits that

pertuzumab in combination with Herceptin could offer to patients with

advanced breast cancer. Pertuzumab is the first of a new, innovative

class of targeted agents known as HER dimerisation inhibitors that can

inhibit cancer cell growth and ultimately lead to death of cancer

cells.