Roche’s immunotherapy Tecentriq has shown the first clinical improvement in post-surgery non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) although its benefit is limited to certain patients.
Interim results from the phase 3 IMpower010 study, to be presented at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in June, showed that Tecentriq (atezolizumab) treatment reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death by 34% in people with stage II-IIA NSCLC following surgery and chemotherapy, in patients whose tumours express PD-L1.
Roche added that the median disease-free survival (DFS) was not yet reached for Tecentriq in this population, compared with 35.3 months for best supportive care (BSC).
However, in the larger population (including all randomised stage II-IIA study participants) the benefit was less pronounced – although still significant – with Tecentriq reducing the risk of disease recurrence or death by 21% after a median followup of 32.2 months.
In addition, Tecentriq increased DFS by a median of seven months compared with BSC – 42.3 months versus 35.3 months.
“[This] landmark phase 3 data demonstrate[s] for the first time that cancer immunotherapy can bring a clinically meaningful improvement to certain people with early lung cancer in the adjuvant setting,” said Levi Garraway, chief medical officer and head of global product development at Roche.
“These results lay the groundwork for a new approach to the treatment of early-stage lung cancer and bring us closer to our goal of providing an effective and tailored treatment option for every person diagnosed with this disease,” he added.
Roche added that it will continue to follow up with patients in the Impower010 study, with planned analyses of DFS in the overall intent-to-treat population, including stage IB patients, and overall survival data which was immature at the time of the interim analysis.
Tecentriq is currently approved for the front-line treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC), a market where the checkpoint inhibitor has been able to carve a niche away from the dominant shadow of Merck & Co’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab).
SCLC is less common than NSCLC but tends to be more aggressive, growing more quickly and spreading to other parts of the body sooner. The five-year survival rate with this form of cancer is as low as 6%, and two-thirds of patients have advanced disease at the time of diagnosis.