Roche study confirms Tarceva treatment

Roche study confirms Tarceva treatment

Roche has announced a study has found Tarceva treatment delays the progression of lung cancer.

Named Saturn (Sequential Tarceva in Unresectable NSCLC), the research showed that – when given in first-line maintenance – the treatment significantly extended the time patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) lived without the cancer getting worse.

Involving 889 patients from 160 centres around the world, the Saturn research was a prospective phase three study to evaluate the efficiency of Tarceva or placebo in patients with advanced, recurrent or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer who have not progressed following first-line platinum-based chemotherapy.

Professor Cappuzzo, managing director and trial investigator at Istituto Clinico Humanitas in Milan, Italy, said lung patients require options to stop the rapid progress of the cancer without the side effects of chemotherapy.

Chief executive officer of the pharmaceuticals division at Roche added: “Tarceva is already proven to work in patients with advanced lung cancer whose previous treatment has failed.”

“This data indicates a role for Tarceva as first-line maintenance treatment ? to help patients further delay the progression of their cancer,” he added.

Lung cancer is the biggest killer in Europe, with 2006 seeing 334,800 lives taken.