Roche announced today that the European Commission has approved the use of Herceptin® (trastuzumab) in combination with Taxotere® (docetaxel) in the European Union as a first-line therapy in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients who have not yet received chemotherapy for their disease.
HER2-positive breast cancer patients suffer from a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer which traditionally has a poor prognosis.
The approval is based on study results which showed that for women with HER2-positive breast cancer, the combination of Herceptin and Taxotere significantly improved median life expectancy by more than one-third (31 months with Herceptin plus Taxotere vs. 22 months for Taxotere alone). The study also showed that 61% of patients treated with the combination responded to treatment, compared to 34% of patients who received Taxotere alone.
"The early use of this new combination therapy represents a vital life-extending treatment option for patients, and highlights the critical importance of verifying HER2 status upon diagnosis of breast cancer," said William M. Burns, Head of Roche's Pharmaceuticals Division. "Now that this combination therapy will be made available to women across Europe, this further consolidates the position of Herceptin as the foundation of care in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer."