Roche says Avastin effective in colorectal cancer

September 24, 2007

ZURICH (Reuters) - New clinical data showed Avastin improved the chances of a removal of metastatic lesions in patients with colorectal cancer, Swiss drug maker Roche Holding said on Monday.

New data from the large international First BEAT trial demonstrated that a high number of patients treated with Avastin plus standard chemotherapy for colorectal cancer had metastatic lesions completely removed, Roche said.

"Complete removal of metastatic lesions was achieved in almost 80 percent of these patients, all of whom had been considered inoperable prior to the start of treatment," the company said.

"This outcome with Avastin is higher than has been previously seen in trials with other biologics/chemotherapy combinations."

The trial included 1,965 patients with advanced colorectal cancer with primarily inoperable metastatic disease.

Avastin is the first in a class of drugs that seek to starve tumors of their blood and nutrients. It had global sales of about $2.5 billion in 2006 and Roche and U.S. partner Genentech Inc. hope expanded uses will boost the franchise.

It is currently approved to treat colon and lung cancers.

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer with approximately one million new cases worldwide every year.