Roche Holding Ltd (RHHBY)

[SAE]

Roche's Cobas Mutation Test For Lung Cancer Gets CE Mark

Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX) Thursday said its cobas EGFR Mutation Test is now CE marked for commercial availability in Europe and other countries that recognize CE mark.

MAIN FACTS:

- The cobas EGFR Mutation Test is a companion diagnostic to identify patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who harbor mutations in the EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) gene and who may benefit from treatment with anti-EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as Roche's Tarceva (erlotinib).

- Tarceva, an oral EGFR inhibitor, was approved by the European Commission in September as first-line monotherapy in people with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC with EGFR activating mutations.

- It is estimated that 10-30 percent of patients with NSCLC have tumors with EGFR activating mutations which are highly responsive to EGFR inhibitors such as Tarceva1.

- Treatment with this medicine has been shown to more than triple the number of patients whose tumours shrink (response rate) and to nearly double the time patients live without their disease progressing (progression free survival - PFS) compared to chemotherapy.

-Zurich Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires, [phone]; [e-mail]