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news.Roche has declared that its Phase III Atlas study revealed that patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received Avastin (bevacizumab) and Tarceva (erlotinib) as combined first-line maintenance treatment, witnessed 39% improvement in the time they lived without the disease advancing, as compared to those who received Avastin alone.
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Results from the study showed that after initial treatment with Avastin and chemotherapy, combined maintenance treatment with Avastin and Tarceva extends the time patients live without their disease getting worse to 4.8 months, as compared to 3.7 months with Avastin maintenance therapy alone. Advanced NSCLC progresses rapidly and this benefit represents a marked improvement towards the treatment of the disease.
Professor Federico Cappuzzo, Principal Investigator on the Saturn study at Istituto Clinico Humanitas IRCCS, said: “Atlas and Saturn bring welcome news for patients and their physicians since extending the time patients live without their disease advancing is a key goal of treatment in lung cancer. Stopping the cancer growing for as long possible reduces symptoms and helps improve the patient’s life. Being able to achieve these benefits without the need for chemotherapy is important since the side effects of chemotherapy add considerably to the physical and psychological burden of cancer for many patients.”