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 |  |  | Roche Annual General Meeting: dividend raised by 20% |  | | Roche's Annual General Meeting, which was held today in Basel, has approved all the Board of Directors' proposals. The 698 shareholders in attendance, representing 143,055,648, or 89.4% of a total of 160,000,000 bearer shares, approved the 2009 Annual Report and financial statements. They also authorised a +20% increase in the dividend to 6.00 Swiss francs per share and non-voting equity. |
 |  |  | Avastin phase III study shows positive results in women with advanced ovarian cancer |  | | Roche announced today that a phase III study showed the combination of Avastin (bevacizumab) and chemotherapy followed by maintenance use of Avastin increased the time women with advanced ovarian cancer lived without their disease worsening (progression-free survival or PFS) compared to chemotherapy alone. A preliminary assessment of safety noted adverse events previously observed in pivotal trials with Avastin. Data from the study will be submitted for presentation at the 2010 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, June 4 to 8, 2010. |
 |  |  | Phase III study of Avastin plus chemotherapy in advanced stomach cancer did not meet primary endpoint |  | | Roche announced today the topline results from a global phase III trial investigating the use of Avastin (bevacizumab) in combination with Xeloda (capecitabine) or fluorouracil and cisplatin chemotherapy in patients with inoperable, advanced or metastatic gastric cancer (stomach cancer). The study, known as AVAGAST, did not meet its primary endpoint of extending overall survival in patients treated with Avastin in combination with chemotherapy compared to the same chemotherapy plus placebo. |
 |  |  | US FDA approves Rituxan/MabThera for the most common type of adult leukemia |  | | Roche announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Rituxan/MabThera (rituximab) plus fludarabine and cyclophosphamide (FC) chemotherapy for people with either previously untreated (first-line) or previously treated (relapsed or refractory) CD20-positive chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). |
 |  |  | Strong operating performance for Roche in 2009 |  | | Record sales, double-digit growth in operating profit and Core Earnings per share – Dividend increase by 20% to 6.00 Swiss francs proposed - Group sales increase by 10% to 49.1 billion Swiss francs (8% in Swiss francs, 7% in US dollars). Both divisions gain market share. |
 |  |  | Herceptin now approved in the EU for patients with HER2-positive advanced stomach cancer |  | | Roche announced today that the European Commission has approved Herceptin (trastuzumab) in combination with chemotherapy for use in patients with HER2-positive metastatic stomach (gastric) cancer. The approval is based on the impressive results from the international ToGA trial, which showed that treatment with Herceptin significantly prolongs the lives of patients with this aggressive cancer. |
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