Genentech braces for blockbuster FDA decision on pertuzumab for breast cancer

  June 7, 2012 | By John Carroll By the end of day tomorrow we should know whether Genentech's latest blockbuster hopeful on the cancer front has earned an FDA approval or faces a delay. The agency has a Friday PDUFA deadline to hit after providing pertuzumab a priority review on some significant data on the drug's ability to stall breast cancer when combined with Herceptin (trastuzumab).  Vontobel analysts have projected peak potential sales of pertuzumab at $1.8 billion, though Genentech has yet to publicly discuss what it will charge for the treatment.  In an article on Xconomy today, Luke Timmerman offers an elegant description of the way researchers zeroed in on a new approach to breast cancer, proving that adding a separate antibody with a fresh target on HER2 molecules could add months to a patient's progression-free survival rate. That came after the drug offered only modest benefits as a standalone therapy.