FDA approves first pre-surgical breast cancer drug

Federal health officials say they have approved a biotech drug from Roche as the first medicine labeled for the treatment of breast cancer before surgery.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Perjeta for women with a form of early-stage who face a high risk of having their spread to other parts of the body.

Surgery to remove tumors is usually the first step in treating most forms of cancer. Perjeta is the first drug to be approved as a pre-surgical step.

The FDA gave the drug accelerated approval based on a study showing women who received the drug as an initial treatment were more likely to be cancer-free 12 weeks later than women who received older drug combinations.

© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Citation: FDA approves first pre-surgical breast cancer drug (2013, September 30) retrieved 19 March 2024 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-09-fda-pre-surgical-breast-cancer-drug.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

FDA: Roche drug works in early-stage breast cancer

 shares

Feedback to editors