Genentech, a member of the Roche Group (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY), recently announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 13 to 0, with one abstention, in favor of recommending accelerated approval of a Perjeta® (pertuzumab) regimen for neoadjuvant treatment (use before surgery) in people with high-risk, HER2-positive early stage breast cancer. The FDA will make a decision on whether or not to approve Perjeta for this use by October 31, 2013. If approved, the Perjeta regimen will be the first neoadjuvant breast cancer treatment approved in the United States and the first treatment approved based on pathological complete response (pCR) data, meaning there is no tumor tissue detectable at the time of surgery.

Perjeta is already approved in a number of countries including the United States for people with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (an advanced form of the disease in which the cancer has spread to other parts of the body).

The Perjeta application for neoadjuvant use follows a proposed new FDA pathway designed to more quickly bring promising medicines to people with earlier stages of breast cancer, where treatment may have a greater impact.

“More than 6,000 people in the United States die of HER2-positive breast cancer each year,” said Hal Barron, M.D., chief medical officer and head, Global Product Development. “The ODAC’s recommendation is a step toward bringing Perjeta to people with HER2-positive early stage breast cancer, where treatment can potentially prevent the disease from returning and spreading.”

Neoadjuvant treatment may allow a doctor to quickly assess whether a medicine is working and may also reduce a tumor’s size so it is easier to surgically remove. pCR is a common measure of neoadjuvant treatment effect in breast cancer and can be assessed more quickly than traditional endpoints in early stage breast cancer.

The ODAC recommendation was based on a review of results from NEOSPHERE and TRYPHAENA, two Phase II studies of Perjeta in high-risk, HER2-positive early stage breast cancer, as well as on longer-term safety data from the Phase III CLEOPATRA study of Perjeta in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

The ongoing Phase III APHINITY study will further evaluate Perjeta in the adjuvant setting (after surgery) and compares Perjeta, Herceptin® (trastuzumab) and chemotherapy with Herceptin and chemotherapy in people with HER2-positive early stage breast cancer. The study has completed enrollment with approximately 4,800 people, and the primary endpoint is invasive disease-free survival (IDFS). Genentech has proposed this study as a confirmatory study to the FDA. Data are expected in 2016.

Source: Genentech