Bayer on a High

After releasing promising data from a mid-stage trial of regorafenib in kidney cancer, the company came out with impressive data on Nexavar for the treatment of breast cancer. Nexavar, which bayer co-developed with Onyx Pharmaceuticals (ONXX - Analyst Report), is currently approved for liver and kidney cancers.

Data from a phase II trial that is studying Nexavar for the additional indication of breast cancer was presented at the ongoing 15th European CanCer Organisation and 34th European Society for Medical Oncology Multidisciplinary Congress in Berlin.

The trial on 229 patients studied the effect of Nexavar along with Roche’s chemotherapy agent Xeloda (capecitabine) compared to chemotherapy alone. Patients in the trial had locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer and had not received more than one chemotherapy previously.

Patients receiving Nexavar along with chemotherapy witnessed a 74% improvement in overall survival without the disease progressing. Additionally, the median progression free survival for the combination showed statistically significant results (6.4 months vs. 4.1 months) compared to chemotherapy alone.

The approval of Nexavar will open up another avenue for breast cancer treatment, which was the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women worldwide in 2007-2008 (nearly 1.3 million cases) and the second leading cause of cancer-related death among women (about 465,000 deaths).

Nexavar is one of Bayer’s new drugs with huge potential. Its second-quarter sales soared 36% to 147 million Euros. The drug is also being studied for other indications such as lung, ovarian and colorectal tumors. The approval of Nexavar for any of these indications will further boost sales.