Roche announced that the phase-III ATLAS study showed patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received Avastin (bevacizumab) and Tarceva (erlotinib) as combined first-line maintenance treatment had a 39 per cent improvement in the time they lived without the disease advancing (progression-free survival or PFS, the primary endpoint of the study), compared with those who received Avastin alone . The ATLAS study was stopped early because of the superior efficacy for patients in the combined treatment group.

Avastin-based therapy is already proven to offer patients with advanced NSCLC over 12 months survival - the longest survival time ever demonstrated. Now results from the ATLAS study show that after initial treatment with Avastin and chemotherapy, combined maintenance treatment with Avastin and Tarceva extends the time patients live without their disease getting worse to 4.8 months compared to 3.7 months with Avastin maintenance therapy alone. Advanced NSCLC progresses rapidly and this benefit represents a new milestone in the treatment of the disease. Importantly, this improvement was achieved without the need for continued chemotherapy.

The value of Tarceva for maintenance treatment in advanced NSCLC was confirmed in a second phase-III study - SATURN, also presented at ASCO. Patients in the SATURN trial received maintenance treatment with Tarceva if their cancer had not progressed on initial chemotherapy. The data showed a significant 41 per cent improvement in the length of time patients lived without their disease getting worse compared to placebo. The improvement was seen in both squamous cell and non-squamous cell lung cancer patients.
Commenting on the two studies professor Federico Cappuzzo, principal investigator on the SATURN study from the Istituto Clinico Humanitas IRCCS, Milan said, "ATLAS and SATURN bring welcome news for patients and their physicians since extending the time patients live without their disease advancing is a key goal of treatment in lung cancer. Stopping the cancer growing for as long possible reduces symptoms and helps improve the patient's life. Being able to achieve these benefits without the need for chemotherapy is important since the side effects of chemotherapy add considerably to the physical and psychological burden of cancer for many patients."

Lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide with 1.5 million new cases annually and NSCLC accounts for almost 85 per cent of all lung cancers . NSCLC progresses rapidly. Less than 5 per cent of advanced NSCLC patients survive for five years6. Extending the time patients live without their disease progressing and managing side effects are key treatment goals. Each day, more than 3,000 people die from lung cancer worldwide.

Avastin is an antibody that specifically binds and blocks VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor).

Tarceva is different from conventional chemotherapies and has been shown to potently inhibit EGFR.