ROCHE GIVES UPDATE ON AVANT TRIAL

Roche has announced that safety data from AVANT, a trial to study different combination treatments for post-surgical adjuvant colon cancer, will be further reviewed. The review has been recommended by the AVANT independent data safety monitoring board (DSMB) and is supported by Roche.

The DSMB's recommendation is based on two reasons: a safety concern observed in one of the three study arms and the fast recruitment in the AVANT trial (more than 200 patients per month), which could prevent adequate and timely intervention. To enable the DSMB to undertake a review of 60-day safety data the recruitment of additional patients will be temporarily halted. Patients already enrolled into the AVANT trial will continue treatment as per the study protocol. The safety data from these patients will continue to be closely monitored by the DSMB.