Lung cancer is under the spotlight this time of year with two back-to-back oncology meetings, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC).
Roche has presented new data for its PD-L1 inhibitor Tecentriq (atezolizumab) at both events, adding to the body of evidence supporting the use of the monoclonal antibody in patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Data presented at ESMO – and published simultaneously in the Lancet – confirms Tecentriq as the “first and only cancer immunotherapy to demonstrate positive Phase III results in the adjuvant lung cancer setting”, says Roche.
In the phase 3 IMpower010 study, treatment with Tecentriq following surgery and chemotherapy reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death by 34% in people with stage 2-3A NSCLC whose tumours expressed PD-L1 compared with best supportive care (BSC).
“Today, more than half of all people with early-stage NSCLC experience recurrence following surgery,” said Roche CMO, Levi Garraway. “IMpower010 shows how, for the first time, a cancer immunotherapy may help many of these patients live longer without their disease returning.”
Roche also released new real-world data that shows almost three-quarters of patients with early-stage NSCLC in the US did not receive adjuvant treatment even though clinical guidelines recommend that they do.
An extended analysis also suggested that the benefit from adjuvant Tecentriq was greater in people with a higher expression of PD-L1, although Roche stressed that the analysis was preliminary.
The data presented at WCLC was also from the IMpower010 study, and showed that treatment with Tecentriq benefited stage 2-3A NSCLC patients regardless of surgery types and adjuvant chemotherapy regimen.
Tecentriq has been given priority review by the US Food and Drug Administration and data is being tracked as part of the Real-Time Oncology Review pilot programme, which aims to find a new process that gets safe and effective treatments to patients as early as possible.
The FDA is expected to make a decision on whether to approve Tecentriq in this indication by early December.
Tecentriq is already approved in five lung cancer indications and Roche has an extensive development programme including multiple ongoing and planned phase 3 studies in lung, genitourinary, skin, breast, gastrointestinal, gynaecological, and head and neck cancers.