Roche oral drug shown to keep breast cancer at bay, boosting shares
Roche’s experimental oral drug giredestrant has been shown to cut the risk of recurrence of a common form of breast cancer after surgery, boosting the company’s shares and underpinning its traditional credentials in oncology.
The Swiss drugmaker said on Tuesday that a scheduled interim analysis of a late-stage trial showed the experimental pill resulted in a clinically meaningful improvement in keeping patients disease-free after surgery compared with standard endocrine therapy.
More details are to be published at a medical conference to be announced as Roche works towards regulatory approval, the company added.
The prospect of the drug reducing the spread of early-stage disease to other body parts lifted the company’s share price by 6.1% to an eight-month high of 304.90 Swiss francs ($383.23) by 0939 GMT, with JPMorgan analysts calling the news a significant positive surprise.
If approved, the clinical use explored in the trial could generate about $5 billion in annual revenue, the analysts added.