The Roche laboratory has just obtained the green light from Europe to market a new form of Herceptin. Instead of intravenously, the new formulation is injected subcutaneously over 2 to 5 minutes.
The pharmaceutical group Roche has just announced this Monday, September 2 that the European health authorities have just given the green light to a new formulation of its flagship drug, Herceptin, to treat breast cancer. This new formulation would reduce the injection time of this drug and therefore the length of patient hospitalization. Indeed, in a press release, the Swiss pharmaceutical group explains that the new form of Herceptin allows it to be injected subcutaneously in 2 to 5 minutes, against 30 to 90 minutes for the standard intravenous treatment, indicated the Swiss group in a press release.
The laboratory specifies that more than 80,000 patients are treated each year by Herceptin in Europe, where it has been marketed since 2000. This approval by the European Union concerns the treatment of early as well as advanced stages of HER2-positive breast cancer, a very aggressive type of breast cancer.
This European decision was based on the results of the HannaH study which showed that the subcutaneous formulation of Herceptin had an efficacy comparable to that of the intravenous formulation. “In Europe, HER2-positive breast cancer is diagnosed each year in more than 90,000 women. This new formulation of Herceptin should allow patients to spend less time in the hospital and have more time at their disposal, ”said Hal Barron, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Product Development at Roche.
.
