Roche's cancer drug Xeloda enabled elderly patients being treating for colorectal cancer to be alive free of the disease for longer, the world's largest maker of cancer drugs said on Thursday.

A study showed that patients over the age of 65 or 70 years who took Xeloda, or capecitabine, with Xelox, or oxaliplatin, instantaneously after surgery lived disease-free for longer compared with those treated with regularly used chemotherapy regimen 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin.

In July, Roche said Xeloda, which is by now approved for the treatment of early-stage colon cancer as a monotherapy, increased the time patients lived when taken with oxaliplatin, meeting its prime goal in a late-stage trial.

Colorectal cancer is the 2nd most common cause of death from cancer in men and women in Europe, with nearly 1 million cases each year globally, said Roche.

Age is the biggest risk factor for the disease and above 90 % of cases are diagnosed in individuals above the age 50, Roche said.

Labels: Roche drug keeps patients cancer-free for longer time