Sanofi-Aventis announces breast cancer study results

Sanofi-Aventis and the Cancer International Research Group (CIRG) has announced the second interim results of the BCIRG 006 phase III clinical breast cancer study.

The study found that a combination of Herceptin with Taxotere-based treatment improved disease-free survival in women in the early stages of HER2-postive breast cancer significantly.

Taxotere is currently indicated for the treatment of advanced or metastatic breast cancer following failed chemotherapy, in addition to lung cancer, prostate cancer, gastric cancer and head and neck cancer, in a number of combinations.

Dennis Slamon, director of clinical and translational research at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Centre, said: “This trial demonstrates an optimal therapeutic index for these patients with the use of TCH (which did not include doxorubicin), thus avoiding the significant cardiac damage related to the sequential use of anthracyclines and Herceptin.”

He added that the study showed that six cycles of TCH regimen chemotherapy resulted in similar benefits to AC-TH without an increase in cardiotoxicity.

In October, Sanofi-Aventis announced the results of an interim efficacy analysis that revealed improved efficacy in an adjuvant gastric cancer trial of the novel oral anti-cancer agent S-1 showed when compared with treatment by surgery alone.