Herceptin eradicates aggressive tumors: study

A phial and pack of Herceptin are seen in London, June 9, 2006. Adding Herceptin to chemotherapy before surgery eradicates tumors in nearly three times as many women with inflammatory breast cancer as chemotherapy alone, the drug's maker Roche Holding AG said on Wednesday.

ZURICH (Reuters) - Adding Herceptin to chemotherapy before surgery eradicates tumors in nearly three times as many women with inflammatory breast cancer as chemotherapy alone, the drug's maker Roche Holding AG said on Wednesday.

The results were from a clinical trial in women with inflammatory HER2-positive breast cancer, a rare but highly aggressive form of the disease, presented at the European Cancer Conference in Barcelona.

The treatment was well tolerated and with acceptable cardiac safety in the late-stage clinical trial, Roche said in a statement.

Herceptin is already approved in Europe and the United States for use against breast cancer in the 25-30 percent of cases where patients have tumors that produce a protein called HER-2.

The drug is marketed internationally by Roche and by its partners Genentech in the United States and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co in Japan.

Inflammatory breast cancer is a particularly dangerous form of the disease in which tumors spread quickly, often leading to the need for total mastectomies. It has a worse outlook than other breast cancers.

Roche said results were significant as treatment with Herceptin in this setting could result in more breast-conserving surgery and, most importantly, could improve survival.

"Herceptin has been proven to extend lives across the spectrum of HER2-positive disease, so these latest findings will be welcome news for the unfortunate few with inflammatory breast cancer, which is an especially devastating form of the disease," said study investigator Wolfgang Eiermann of the Red Cross Womens' Hospital in Munich.

Roche stock was up 0.2 percent at 213 Swiss francs in early trade.