Roche’s Perjeta-based regimen cuts down breast cancer recurrence in phase 3 trial

The study dubbed APHINITY, compared Perjeta-based regimen with Herceptin and chemotherapy alone as an adjuvant therapy in 4,805 people with operable HER2-positive eBC.

The Perjeta-based regimen is made up of Perjeta (pertuzumab) which targets the HER2 receptor, Herceptin (trastuzumab) and chemotherapy.

Roche disclosed that 94.1% of patients who had received the Perjeta-based regimen did not experience recurrence of breast cancer three years after the treatment initiation. This was in comparison to 93.2% who were treated with Herceptin and chemotherapy.

Also, the pharma said that the safety profile of the investigational regimen based on Perjeta was in line with what was recorded in previous trials. The regimen like in previous studies showed low incidence of cardiac events while not throwing up any new safety signals.

Roche chief medical officer and global product development head Sandra Horning said: “The goal of adjuvant treatment is to help each person with cancer have the best chance of a cure, and we come closer to this goal with each advance.

“In the APHINITY study, the Perjeta-based regimen improved upon the high bar set by Herceptin in people with HER2-positive early breast cancer. We look forward to working with global health authorities to bring this treatment option to patients.”

In another development for Roche, its lung cancer drug Alecensa (alectinib) was shown in a phase 3 trial dubbed ALEX to have cut down the risk of the disease progression or death by more than 50%. This was in comparison to crizotinib when given as first-line treatment in patients having anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).