Roche receives CHMP recommendations for two cancer therapies

Roche has announced that two of its cancer drugs have been recommended for EU approval in new combination therapy indications.

The European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has adopted a positive opinion for Gazyvaro to be used in combination with bendamustine chemotherapy for people with previously treated follicular lymphoma.

This would allow the drug to be used as a new treatment, followed by Gazyvaro maintenance, for people with follicular lymphoma who did not respond to or who progressed during or up to six months after treatment with MabThera.

Clinical study data showed that Gazyvaro plus bendamustine chemotherapy reduced the risk of disease worsening or death by 52 percent compared to bendamustine alone.

Meanwhile, the CHMP also recommended the use of Avastin in combination with Tarceva for the first-line treatment of adult patients with unresectable advanced, metastatic or recurrent non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR-activating mutations.

In clinical trials, Avastin plus Tarceva showed a substantial increase in the time patients survived without their disease progressing, compared to Tarceva alone.