HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, May 13: Roche Pharma, on Friday, announced the India launch of PHESGO, the first-ever fixed-dose formulation in oncology to combine two monoclonal antibodies – Perjeta (pertuzumab) and Herceptin (trastuzumab) with hyaluronidase. Notably, the dose is administered by subcutaneous injection in combination with intravenous (IV) chemotherapy, for the treatment of early and metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. This is the first time that Roche has combined two monoclonal antibodies that can be administered by a single SC injection.
PHESGO was first approved by the USFDA in June 2020 during the peak of the Covid pandemic, by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in December 2020, and has been recognized in the NCCN treatment guidelines. In India, PHESGO was approved by the DCGI in October 2021 and the import license was granted in January 2022. Globally, over 17000 breast cancer patients have benefitted from PHESGO as of December 2021.
Commenting on the launch, V Simpson Emmanuel, CEO, and managing director, Roche Pharma India said, “PHESGO is a path-breaking drug that will provide convenience and improve the quality of life of patients suffering from breast cancer by significantly reducing the in-clinic time for them. Patients and their caregivers can now look forward to spending less time at the hospital and more time doing what they like most. It will also enhance the efficiency of healthcare systems since it requires less preparation and administration time. Faster administration frees up time for both patients and healthcare professionals and provides cost-saving benefits to healthcare systems. PHESGO is one more example of Roche’s commitment to our purpose of ‘Doing now what patients need next’ and pioneering efforts in the breast cancer treatment space.”
