Tarceva is a novel therapy for patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after failure of at least one prior chemotherapy regimen. It is an oral tablet taken once a day and has the potential to treat many types of solid tumours. Tarceva has been approved in the European Union since September 2005 and in the US since November 2004. Tarceva works differently to chemotherapy by specifically targeting tumour cells and inhibiting their formation and growth. It is a small molecule that targets the human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway. The epidermal growth factor, also known as HER1, is a key component of this signalling pathway, which plays a key role in the formation and growth of numerous cancers. Tarceva blocks tumour cell growth by inhibiting the activity of a specific enzyme, tyrosine kinase, which is part of the EGFR inside the cell. This prevents continued cell growth. Tarceva is the only EGFR-inhibitor to have demonstrated a survival benefit in lung cancer. Currently most people with lung cancer are treated with chemotherapy which can be very debilitating due to its toxic nature. Tarceva works differently to chemotherapy by specifically targeting tumour cells, so avoiding the typical side-effects of chemotherapy.
About Avastin
Avastin(R) (bevacizumab) is the first monoclonal antibody in a first-line setting to be shown to prolong the life of patients with advanced NSCLC. Avastin targets angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels within and around a tumour, starving the tumour of the blood supply that is critical to its growth and spread throughout the body.
Avastin was approved in the EU in January 2005 and in the US in February 2004 for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer in combination with intravenous 5-FU-based chemotherapy. It received another approval in the US in June 2006 as a second-line treatment for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer in combination with intravenous 5-FU-based chemotherapy. Avastin received approval in the United States for the treatment of previously untreated, non-squamous NSCLC in October 2006, and a dossier for the approval of Avastin in metastatic NSCLC with histology other than predominant squamous cell was submitted to the European authorities in August this year.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world's leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As a supplier of innovative products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people's health and quality of life. Roche is a world leader in diagnostics, the leading supplier of medicines for cancer and transplantation and a market leader in virology. In 2005 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 27.3 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 8.2 billion Swiss francs. Roche employs roughly 70,000 people in 150 countries and has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai. Additional information about the Roche Group is available on the Internet (www.roche.com).
Additional information
-- Lung Cancer: www.roche.com/med_mbackgrlungcancer.pdf
-- Roche in Oncology: www.roche.com/mboncology-e.pdf
-- Roche Health Kiosk, Cancer: www.health-kiosk.ch/start_krebs
-- Avastin: http://www.avastin-info.com
-- Tarceva : http://www.tarceva.net
References:
[i] Unresectable locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
1. Boyle P and Ferlay J. Cancer incidence and mortality in Europe, 2004. Annal Oncol:16;481-488, 2005
2. Wilking N and Jonsson B. A Pan-European comparison regarding patient access to cancer drugs. Karolinska Institute in collaboration with Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm, Sweden, 2005
3. Stewart BW and Kleihues P. World Cancer Report. IARC Press, Lyon, pp.183-87, 2003
4. Al-Wadei HA, Takahasi T, Schuller HM. PKA-dependent growth stimulation of cells derived from human pulmonary adenocarcinoma and small airway epithelium by dexamethasone. European Journal of Cancer 41(17):2745-53. Nov, 2005
5. Hamilton W, Peters TJ, Round A, Sharp D. What are the clinical features of lung cancer before the diagnosis is made? A population based case-control study. Thorax, 2005
For further information please contact: Nina Schwab-Hautzinger at Roche, Telephone: +41-61-688-1365, Patty Lee at Roche: Telephone: +41-61-687-5273
