Herceptin as an add-on to standard chemotherapy set to be clinical 'gold standard' for gastric cancer

Roche/Genentech/Chugai's gastric cancer drug Herceptin (trastuzumab), as an add-on to standard chemotherapy earns advisory firm Decision Resources' proprietary clinical 'gold standard' status in 2013, following its approval for the first-line treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive gastric cancer in 2010.

Based on clinical data and expert opinion, Herceptin plus chemotherapy has competitive advantages in efficacy relative to other current therapies, and it has shown to significantly improve median overall survival compared with chemotherapy alone. The blockbuster product earned the Swiss drugmaker 5.3 billion Swiss francs ($4.93 billion) sales in 2009, an increase of 8% on the previous year (The Pharma Letter February 3).

"Despite the recent approval of Herceptin - the first targeted agent approved for gastric cancer - only HER2-positive patients will be eligible for it. Therefore there is still a very high unmet need for further targeted agents that extend survival of patients," stated Decision Resources analyst Rachel Webster.