Halozyme Therapeutics Inc (HALO)

[maumar]

This should be good for HALO, though it could cause some pricing pressure.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/28/health-cancer-roche-idUSL6N0RT04J20140928

While both Perjeta and Herceptin have side effects, including rash, diarrhoea and a potentially adverse impact on heart function, using the two drugs together did not make these issues any worse.

"I think these data are really compelling," said Eric Van Cutsem of the University of Leuven, who was not involved in the research. "When you see in breast cancer such a big change in survival with not a lot of cardio-toxicities then that is really practice-changing."

REMARKABLE RESULTS

Swain and Javier Cortes, another researcher on the study from the Vall D'Hebron Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, said the results suggested using Perjeta should now be the standard of care for HER2 positive breast cancer patients.

A favourable reaction from oncologists will underpin expectations of strong sales for Perjeta, which analysts currently expect to sell $3.1 billion a year by 2018, according to consensus forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters Cortellis.

But it poses a challenge for healthcare providers, since Perjeta and Herceptin are costly injectable drugs and the multiple-drug regimen promises to strain budgets.