Genentech Gets to Show Off Avastin Numbers

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CHICAGO -- How much confidence does Genentech (DNA) have in its new cancer drug Avastin? Enough to sponsor bus shelter ads around town, crowing about the arrival, after years of setbacks, of a drug that cuts off the blood supply to tumors.

"It's about time," the bright outdoor ad shouts. "Anti-angiogenesis: ASCO 2003."

Anti-angiogenesis -- the technical term for the process in which a drug blocks the formation and growth of new blood vessels to tumors -- finally appears to be a reality. Today, Genentech took the wraps off results from a phase III study that shows Avastin, when used in combination with chemotherapy, greatly improves survival for patients with metastatic colon cancer.

Patients who received Avastin plus standard chemotherapy survived a median of 20.3 months, compared to 15.6 months for patients taking standard chemotherapy alone. For those without calculators, this translates into a 4.7-month survival benefit in favor of Avastin.

"To my knowledge, this is the largest increase in survival from the addition of a single agent," says Dr. Gwen Fyfe, Genentech's vice president of Hematology/Oncology."

Genentech first announced the positive Avastin results on May 19, but release of the actual data was held back until it could be unveiled at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting. Investors, of course, haven't waited -- bidding up shares of Genentech 66% and adding about $13 billion to the biotech firm's market value since May 19. Genentech shares closed Friday at $62.61.

The phase III Avastin study enrolled 800 patients who suffer from metastatic colon cancer but who had not yet received chemotherapy. Many analysts believe that the addition of Avastin to current front-line chemotherapy regimens for these patients could translate into peak Avastin sales of between $700 million to $1 billion in colon cancer.