Roche dominates the breast cancer treatment industry with

Roche dominates the breast cancer treatment industry with sales of Herceptin that totaled $6 billion in 2012. Roche has also recently garnered FDA approval for Kadcyla, or TDM-1, combining Herceptin with emtansine to earn the nickname “Super Herceptin” as a stronger form of the therapy that has investors excited about the potential sales. The key factor in the case of breast cancer is that Herceptin treats HER-2 (Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2) positive patients that only account for about 20 percent of the breast cancer population annually. Breast cancer patients that are topoisomerase 2-positive, represent a larger population, but there are no FDA-approved drugs for this group of patients, leaving them little options in treatment. As aforementioned, Adva-27a is directed at topoisomerase 2-positive patients, lending to the premise that the potential sales for the drug could be far greater than Roche’s product.