Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Survival Extension

In a presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology, researchers reported that Roche's Perjeta (pertuzumab) could extend patients' lives, the New York Times reports.

According to lead researcher Sandra Swain from the MedStar Washington Hospital Center, patients who received the drug, which treats metastatic breast cancer, had a median survival time 16 months longer than those in the control group.

Perjeta targets the HER2 protein, which is overexpressed in some 20 percent of breast cancers, and it is supposed to be used in conjunction with another Roche drug, Herceptin (trastuzumab), which is directed at a different part of the same protein.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved Perjeta in 2012 through a priority review, as Pharmacogenomics Reporter noted at the time.

The Times says it is now the standard of care in the US, though only about half of eligible women receive the drug. It notes that this study, which the drugmaker funded, could lead to an uptick in use.

The Scan

ChatGPT Does As Well As Humans Answering Genetics Questions, Study Finds

Researchers in the European Journal of Human Genetics had ChatGPT answer genetics-related questions, finding it was about 68 percent accurate, but sometimes gave different answers to the same question.

Sequencing Analysis Examines Gene Regulatory Networks of Honeybee Soldier, Forager Brains

Researchers in Nature Ecology & Evolution find gene regulatory network differences between soldiers and foragers, suggesting bees can take on either role.

Analysis of Ashkenazi Jewish Cohort Uncovers New Genetic Loci Linked to Alzheimer's Disease

The study in Alzheimer's & Dementia highlighted known genes, but also novel ones with biological ties to Alzheimer's disease.

Tara Pacific Expedition Project Team Finds High Diversity Within Coral Reef Microbiome

In papers appearing in Nature Communications and elsewhere, the team reports on findings from the two-year excursion examining coral reefs.