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Biotech / Medical : Genentech (NYSE:DNA) formerly known as (NYSE:GNE)
DNA 8.550-4.4%12:01 PM EST
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From: tom pope2/4/2009 9:55:16 PM
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After the favorable Tarceva/Avastin results -

NEW YORK (AP) -- Doctors thought that combining two newer drugs that more precisely attack cancer would help people with advanced colon cancer. Instead, it made the cancer worse and made the patients more miserable, a study found.

The surprising findings underscore the importance of doing rigorous studies before rushing to mix these pricey, new-generation drugs, the Dutch researchers and other experts said. The doctors tried combining Erbitux and Avastin because lab tests and an earlier small study had shown promising results.

"This will stand out as a warning," said Dr. Cornelis Punt, the study's leader. "You have to do the randomized studies to see what really happens."

For the study, Eli Lilly & Co.'s Erbitux was added to standard treatment, which includes Genentech Inc.'s Avastin. Since both are "targeted" drugs and attack tumors in different ways, the thinking was that the combo would do a better job of keeping the cancer from growing.

But the results show "more is not always better," said Dr. Robert Mayer, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. He wrote an editorial published with the study in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

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