Pharmaceutical Business review

Roche’s lung cancer drug combo study shows improvement in progression-free survival

The study demonstrated that the Tecentriq combination has more effectively reduced the disease progression in patients compared to those who received Avastin plus chemotherapy.

IMpower150 is a multicenter, open-label, randomized and controlled study designed to assess the efficacy and safety of Tecentriq in combination with chemotherapy with or without Avastin in people with stage IV or recurrent metastatic non-squamous NSCLC.

The company had recruited 1,202 patients, of which those with ALK and EGFR mutations were excluded from the primary ITT analysis.

The patients have been randomized in 1:1:1 ratio to secure Tecentriq plus carboplatin and paclitaxel, Tecentriq and Avastin plus carboplatin and paclitaxel and Avastin plus carboplatin and paclitaxel.

According to the company, the co-primary endpoints were progression-free survival and overall survival, which were determined by the investigator.

Roche chief medical officer and global product development head Dr Sandra Horning said: “This Tecentriq study is the first positive Phase III combination trial that showed a cancer immunotherapy reduced the risk of the disease getting worse when used as an initial treatment in a broad group of people with advanced non-squamous NSCLC.

“The IMpower150 study represents an important advance in lung cancer treatment, and we will submit these results to regulatory authorities around the world to potentially bring a new standard of care to people living with this disease as soon as possible.”