Roche reports positive breast cancer performance for Perjeta

Roche has announced that its oncology compound Perjeta has demonstrated a strong performance in a new clinical study for breast cancer.

Results from the phase III Cleopatra trial showed that a combination of Perjeta, Herceptin and docetaxel chemotherapy delivered overall survival benefits among patients with previously untreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Due to the strong performance of the new regimen compared to the Herceptin, chemotherapy and placebo, the trial's control group has been offered the option to switch to Perjeta.

This will support Roche's efforts to obtain European regulatory approval for its product for patients in this group.

Dr Hal Barron, Roche's chief medical officer and head of global product development, said: "This data further demonstrates that Perjeta is an important new medicine for people with this aggressive disease."

This comes after the firm announced a new research alliance with the Innovative Medicines Initiative into stem cell technology last week.