ZURICH, March 28 Fri Mar 28, 2014 2:56am EDT
<span id="articleText"/>ZURICH, March 28 (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche said on Friday that European regulators have approved a new timesaving formulation of its blood cancer drug MabThera, which it hopes will help extend the medicine's shelf life.
<span id="midArticle_0"/>The European Commission has given the nod to a new subcutaneous formulation of MabThera for common forms of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, which cuts down treatment time to five minutes from the 2.5 hours it takes to administer the drug intravenously.
<span id="midArticle_1"/>The green light for this new MabThera formulation follows on from the European approval for a subcutaneous form of its breast cancer drug Herceptin last September.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>Roche is banking on these new timesaving formulations to help prolong the shelf life of its older biotech drugs MabThera and Herceptin even as they lose patent protection.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>It is also building its defences by bringing out so-called follow-on products, which are better versions of its mainstay products.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>Last November, U.S. health regulators approved its drug Gazyva as a treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Roche is also testing the drug in patients with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>The drugmaker has also won approval for two new breast cancer drugs, Perjeta and Kadcyla.
<span id="midArticle_6"/><span id="midArticle_7"/><span id="midArticle_8"/>(Reporting by Caroline Copley. Editing by Jane Merriman)
<span id="midArticle_9"/>
<span id="articleText"/>ZURICH, March 28 (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche said on Friday that European regulators have approved a new timesaving formulation of its blood cancer drug MabThera, which it hopes will help extend the medicine's shelf life.
<span id="midArticle_0"/>The European Commission has given the nod to a new subcutaneous formulation of MabThera for common forms of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, which cuts down treatment time to five minutes from the 2.5 hours it takes to administer the drug intravenously.
<span id="midArticle_1"/>The green light for this new MabThera formulation follows on from the European approval for a subcutaneous form of its breast cancer drug Herceptin last September.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>Roche is banking on these new timesaving formulations to help prolong the shelf life of its older biotech drugs MabThera and Herceptin even as they lose patent protection.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>It is also building its defences by bringing out so-called follow-on products, which are better versions of its mainstay products.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>Last November, U.S. health regulators approved its drug Gazyva as a treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Roche is also testing the drug in patients with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>The drugmaker has also won approval for two new breast cancer drugs, Perjeta and Kadcyla.
<span id="midArticle_6"/><span id="midArticle_7"/><span id="midArticle_8"/>(Reporting by Caroline Copley. Editing by Jane Merriman)
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