Novartis’s Afinitor Curbs Breast Cancer in ‘Game-Changing’ Study
9/25/11
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Quote:
Among women with breast cancer that had spread after treatment,
Afinitor more than doubled the time until their disease worsened compared with those who only got Pfizer Inc.’s Aromasin, according to results presented at a cancer conference in Stockholm today. The trial was stopped early because the primary goal was met earlier than expected.
“This could be game-changing,” said Jose Baselga, a Harvard Medical School professor and chief of hematology and oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital who led the study, in an interview. “I don’t recall a study in this patient population that had this magnitude of an effect. It’s pretty exciting.”
The findings move Novartis closer to marketing Afinitor for a new cancer type. The Basel, Switzerland-based company
plans to apply for regulatory approval this year to sell Afinitor as a breast cancer treatment, and expects it to add $1 billion to annual sales
[research suggests it helps Herecptin too]