Swiss giant Roche given green light for lung cancer drug in Canada

Roche has been granted marketing authorisation for its drug Alecensaro by Health Canada. Alecensaro is an adjunct therapy for patients with early-stage ALK-positive lung cancer. Want to read our weekly top stories? Subscribe here. Health Canada, the Canadian regulatory authority for therapeutic products, issued the authorisation on June 27 citing an “urgent unmet need”, as stated in a press release published on Tuesday. Data from the phase III Alina study shows that Alecensaro (alectinib) reduced the risk of recurrence or death by 76% compared to chemotherapy alone in patients with early-stage ALK-positive lung cancer who had undergone tumour removal. Normally, approximately half of early-stage patients experience disease relapse following tumour surgery. Lung cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer-related death worldwide. Approximately one in 15 women and one in 14 men in Canada will develop this type of cancer in their lifetime, Roche pointed out. Translated from ...