Swiss drug maker Roche said today that a European committee adopted a positive opinion on its cancer drug Avastin in combination with standard chemotherapy as a front-line treatment for women with advanced ovarian cancer.

Roche said in a statement a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) was "an important milestone towards making Avastin available for a disease where few treatment advances have been seen in over a decade".

Final approval from the European Commission is expected later this year, the company said.

The news comes after Roche's blockbuster drug suffered a serious setback this summer when a panel of the US health authorities recommended that Avastin no longer be used to treat breast cancer.

The drug, which generated about $6 billion of sales last year, also failed in prostate and stomach cancer so the success in ovarian cancer is important for Roche to drive future sales growth.

Ovarian cancer is the most deadly of the gynaecological cancers and approximately 140,000 women die from the disease each year, Roche said.

Reuters