Tecentriq can now be used in combination with Avastin (bevacizumab) and chemotherapy for the treatment of metastatic non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer.
Tecentriq (atezolizumab) from Genentech, Roche’s biopharmaceutical unit, has previously been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a first-line treatment for bladder cancer and for the treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose disease progressed during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy.
In early December, the FDA granted the drug a second approval –– this time in combination with Avastin (bevacizumab, also from Genentech) and standard chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic non-squamous (NSq) NSCLC with no EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations.
In an open-label, randomized, three-arm trial with 1202 patients receiving first-line treatment for metastatic NSq NSCLC, the performance of Tecentriq in combination with different chemotherapy drugs (carboplatin, paclitaxel and bevacizumab or carboplatin and paclitaxel) was compared to a control regimen (carboplatin, paclitaxel and bevacizumab).
The estimated median OS for patients with NSq NSCLC but without an EGFR or ALK mutation was 19.2 months for patients receiving the four-drug regimen and 14.7 months for those receiving the control. Progression-free survival was also longer for patients receiving the four-drug regiment (8.5 vs. 7.0 months).
Tecentriq is a fully humanized monoclonal antibody that acts as a PD-L1 inhibitor.