UPDATE 1-Roche seeks broader EU breast cancer label for drug

* EU approval sought for broader Avastin breast cancer use

* Application based on study on benefits with chemotherapy

ZURICH, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding (ROG.VX) has filed for European approval to extend use of its Avastin drug to patients with metastatic breast cancer in combination with a broader range of standard chemotherapies.

Roche said the application was supported by data from a Phase III study which showed Avastin combined with Xeloda, anthracycline-based or taxane-based chemotherapies increased the time women with breast cancer lived without the disease advancing.

Avastin is licensed in the European Union as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic breast cancer in combination with paclitaxel or docetaxel chemotherapies.

Roche, the world's largest maker of cancer drugs, said more than one million women worldwide were diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and over 400,000 of these died from the disease.

Avastin, which works by starving tumours of blood supply and is made by the recently acquired Genentech unit, is already used to treat lung, colon and breast cancers, and had 2008 annual global sales of 5.2 billion Swiss francs ($5.1 billion). (Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Dan Lalor) ($1 = 1.013 Swiss francs) ((Zurich Newsroom, zurich.newsroom@reuters.com, +41 58 306 7336))