Roche's Perjeta wins approval in Europe for expanded use

ZURICH: Roche won European Union approval for its Perjeta medicine to treat a type of breast cancer whose sufferers are at a high risk of re-occurrence, the Swiss drugmaker said in a statement.

The European Commission backed Perjeta in combination with Herceptin and chemotherapy for post-surgery treatment of adult patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer that is lymph node-positive or hormone receptor-negative disease.

The combination was approved in the United States in December, helping to bolster Roche’s position in new medicines as it braces for falling sales of older patent-expired products that now account for about half its drug revenue.

Perjeta is one of Roche’s fastest growing medicines, having racked up 2.2 billion Swiss francs ($2.23 billion) last year.