World's first subcutaneous therapy for breast cancer launched in India

World's first subcutaneous therapy for breast cancer that is effective and reduces treatment time by a massive 90 per cent has been launched in India, Roche Pharma said on Thursday. The treatment by Roche called PHESGO is the first ever fixed dose formulation in oncology that combines two monoclonal antibodies: Perjeta (pertuzumab) and Herceptin (trastuzumab) with hyaluronidase.

It is administered via an under the skin injection in combination with intravenous (IV) chemotherapy for the treatment of early and metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. Roche, in a statement, said that it has combined two monoclonal antibodies that can be administered by a single SC injection.

The single dose jab takes a few minutes compared to hours with IV formulations for each round of treatment, thus reducing chair time for patients by 90 per cent. It also provides a faster, more convenient, and less invasive means to receive breast cancer therapy.

PHESGO was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June 2020, and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in December 2020, and also has been recognised in the NCCN treatment guidelines.

In India, PHESGO was approved by the DCGI in October 2021 and the import licence was granted in January 2022. Globally, over 17,000 breast cancer patients have benefitted from PHESGO as of December 2021, Roche said.

As per the phase II study, 85 per cent of people receiving treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer preferred treatment with PHESGO compared to IV administration due to less time in the clinic and more comfortable treatment administration.

"PHESGO is a pathbreaking drug that will provide convenience and improve quality of life of patients suffering from breast cancer by significantly reducing the in-clinic time for them," Roche Pharma India CEO and Managing Director V. Simpson Emmanuel said in a statement.