Genentech antibody-chemo punch strong in breast cancer trial

A mid-stage trial of a highly selective version of Genentech Inc.’s blockbuster cancer-fighting drug Herceptin found that metastatic breast cancer patients lived a median of five months longer without their disease worsening.
South San Francisco-based Genentech and its Swiss parent Roche said a Phase II trial found that patients using the antibody-drug conjugate — called trastuzumab emtansine, or T-DM1 —saw a 41 percent reduction in the risk of death or of their disease worsening.