Roche/Genentech/Chugai's Herceptin as an Add-On to Standard Chemotherapy Will Become Decision Resources' Clinical Gold Standard in 2013 for the Treatment Of Gastric Cancer

WALTHAM, Mass., March 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, for the treatment of gastric cancer, Roche/Genentech/ Chugai's Herceptin as an add-on to standard chemotherapy earns Decision Resources' proprietary clinical gold standard status in 2013, following its approval for the first-line treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive gastric cancer in 2010. Based on clinical data and expert opinion, Herceptin plus chemotherapy has competitive advantages in efficacy relative to other current therapies, and it has shown to significantly improve median overall survival compared with chemotherapy alone.

"Despite the recent approval of Herceptin—the first targeted agent approved for gastric cancer—only HER2-positive patients will be eligible for it. Therefore there is still a very high unmet need for further targeted agents that extend survival of patients," stated Decision Resources Analyst Rachel Webster, Ph.D.

The new report entitled Gastric Cancer (Unresectable): An Emerging Biological Agent Will Take Over as Market Leader in 2013 also finds that a therapy that improves the median overall survival of unresectable gastric cancer patients compared with capecitabine/cisplatin would earn 58 percent patient share in the U.S., according to surveyed U.S. oncologists. In contrast, in Europe, such an agent would earn a lower patient share of 48 percent, according to surveyed European oncologists. The difference in patient share suggests that in Europe, physician prescribing decisions are strongly influenced by reimbursement policies.

"Despite the need for more-efficacious therapies that improve median overall survival and the need for more tolerable therapies that can be used in more patients, reimbursement restrictions in Europe constrain physicians from prescribing novel, premium-priced therapies," added Dr. Webster.

About the Report

Gastric Cancer (Unresectable): An Emerging Biological Agent Will Take Over as Market Leader is a DecisionBase 2010 report. DecisionBase 2010 is a decision-support tool that provides in-depth analysis of unmet need, physician expectations of new therapies and commercial dynamics to help pharmaceutical companies optimize their investments in drug development. 

About Decision Resources

Decision Resources (www.DecisionResources.com) is a world leader in market research publications, advisory services and consulting designed to help clients shape strategy, allocate resources and master their chosen markets. Decision Resources is a Decision Resources, Inc. company.

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    Christopher Comfort
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SOURCE Decision Resources