Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG’s oral chemotherapy drug Xeloda, or capecitabine, proved inferior to standard chemotherapy in treating older women with early stage breast cancer, a study released on Saturday at a major meeting of oncology specialists found.

Researchers had thought the oral pill, if effective, could be a gentler alternative to standard chemotherapy after surgery in women older than 65 - an age group typically underrepresented in clinical trials.

“What we found was standard therapy was superior,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Hyman Muss of the University of Vermont’s College of Medicine. “These were rather surprising numbers.”

The data were released at the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

The study of 633 early stage breast cancer patients who had already undergone surgery to remove their tumors failed to meet its goal of non-inferiority to standard chemotherapy. The investigators found that patients receiving Xeloda were 2.4 times more likely to suffer a relapse after two years and 2.1 times more likely to die than those receiving standard treatment.

Xeloda is approved to treat metastatic breast cancer, in which the disease has recurred after other treatments, in combination with other chemotherapy drugs. It is also being studied in other trials as a post-surgery treatment for early stage breast cancer, either alone or in combination with other agents.

By Susan Kelly
CHICAGO (Reuters)