This time positive news regarding breast cancer: Very
positive news:
T-DM1, which combines
Roche's anti-HER2 antibody Herceptin (trastuzumab) with a chemotherapy payload,
is due to reach the market next year and has already been tipped as a major
seller for Roche with some analysts predicting peak revenues of up to $3.5bn a
year.
The new data from the
EMILIA study were presented yesterday at the European Society for Medical
Oncology (ESMO) annual meeting, and come from a study involving patients with
HER2-positive breast cancer whose disease had progressed despite earlier
treatment with Herceptin.
Those treated with T-DM1
(trastuzumab emtansine) lived for 30.9 months on average, compared to 25.1
months for patients treated with capecitabine and GlaxoSmithKline's
Tykerb/Tyverb (lapatinib), which is currently the only approved regimen in this
setting.
I am very glad that this
new drug will be launched next year. I have just a couple questions:
- T-DM1 was not tested as first-line treatment?
- T-DM1 was tested as a second-line treatment “involving
patients with HER2-positive breast cancer whose disease had progressed despite
earlier treatment with Herceptin”
If the answers are “yes”
so the potential of T-DM1 is not so big as it should be expected. And T-DM1 is
not a really magic bullet. Probably “semi-magic” bullet.
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