Roche's Avastin extends lives of cervical cancer patients; positive in glioblastoma

Data presented from the study, known as GOG240, showed that the addition of Swiss pharma major Roche’s (ROG: SIX) blockbuster cancer drug Avastin (bevacizumab) to chemotherapy (paclitaxel and topotecan or cisplatin) significantly extended the lives of women with advanced cervical cancer, by almost 30% compared to chemotherapy alone (median overall survival of 17 months compared to 13.3 months, respectively; HR=0.71, p= 0.0035).

In addition, the percentage of patients who responded to therapy increased by a third from 36% to 48% (p= 0.0078). However, patients receiving bevacizumab experienced more side effects than those who did not. These side effects were consistent with side effects previously known to be associated with bevacizumab. The data were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

GOG240 is an independent Phase III trial sponsored by the US National Cancer Institute (NCI). It was conducted by a network of researchers led by the US Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) and is the first study to show a targeted therapy significantly improves overall survival in gynecological cancer.