AVASTIN EXTENDS ONLY PFS IN OVARIAN CANCER-PROBABLY NOT ENOUGH FOR APPROVAL

ZURICH (Reuters) Feb 08 - Roche has announced that its top-selling drug Avastin (bevacizumab) helps women with recurrent ovarian cancer live significantly longer without their disease getting worse, a late-stage trial showed, giving the troubled drug a much needed boost.
Avastin did not improve overall survival, however.
The company didn't say in its announcement how much longer progression-free survival was in the women who received Avastin along with their chemotherapy for recurrent disease. In trials of Avastin as first-line therapy for ovarian cancer, progression-free survival was improved by two to four months.
Full data will be submitted for presentation at an upcoming medical meeting, Roche said.
Avastin, once expected to become the world's biggest selling medicine, hit a number of setbacks last year, failing in clinical trials for prostate and stomach cancer, while U.S. authorities revoked its license to treat advanced breast cancer.
Just last week, researchers also highlighted the side-effects linked to the drug, which is already used to treat types of lung cancer and advanced colorectal and kidney cancers.
Avastin works by blocking vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF.
The Swiss drugmaker is now banking on use of Avastin in ovarian cancer, the sixth most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, to help drive future sales growth of the drug.
It plans to file for regulatory approval in the United States this year and a launch could come next year. The group has already filed for approval in Europe based on two earlier phase III trials and expects a decision later this year.
Roche said on Tuesday that previously treated women who received a combination of Avastin and chemotherapy followed by the continued use of Avastin alone lived longer without their disease worsening compared with women who received just chemotherapy.
No new safety findings were observed and adverse events were consistent with those seen in previous pivotal trials of Avastin, Roche also said.