Roche announced that new five year follow-up data from two pivotal studies with Herceptin (trastuzumab) in early breast cancer; key results from a study of Avastin (bevacizumab) in the second-line treatment of advanced breast cancer and strong data on the use of trastuzumab-DM1 (T-DM1), the first antibody-drug conjugate in development for very advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, will all be presented during the ongoing CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) from December 9 to 13 2009.

“Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide with more than one million new cases diagnosed every year and nearly 400,000 deaths, so it is vital that we continue to provide more treatment options,” said William M Burns, CEO of Roche Pharma. “The much anticipated data on Herceptin, Avastin and the investigational drug T-DM1 will be welcomed by physicians treating women with early and very advanced stages of breast cancer as it will offer them more choices for fighting this devastating disease.”

Two Herceptin studies in early breast cancer, five year follow up data (N9831, BCIRG 006) five-years of follow-up data will be presented from these pivotal phase-III studies that have already shown efficacy in patients when adding 12 months of Herceptin to standard therapy. Both studies were seeking to answer questions the medical community has been contemplating regarding the best way of giving their patients Herceptin treatment. Avastin RIBBON-2 study, second-line treatment data

Avastin is well established as a first-line treatment for women with advanced breast cancer. RIBBON-2 will report on the benefits of Avastin in combination with commonly used chemotherapies in the second-line setting where currently the only option is subsequent chemotherapy.T-DM1 4374 study in very advanced breast cancer

New data from a phase-II study (TDM4374) in a very advanced patient population who have exhausted other treatment options will be presented. This follows on from another phase-II study (TDM4258) that was presented at ASCO 2009 which showed encouraging results in women with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer.

In addition, further data from the phase-II study BO17929 will be presented, demonstrating that the combination of pertuzumab and trastuzumab shows efficacy in patients with HER2 positive advanced breast cancer whose disease had progressed during prior treatment with Herceptin plus chemotherapy.

The above mentioned studies and data represent the latest results of clinical research for each treatment and are not necessarily part of the indicated licence in each country.

In HER2-positive breast cancer, increased quantities of the HER2 protein are present on the surface of the tumour cells. This is known as ‘HER2-positivity’. High levels of HER2 are present in a particularly aggressive form of the disease which responds poorly to chemotherapy. Research shows that HER2-positivity affects approximately 20-30 per cent of women with breast cancer.