Early Tecentriq OK Gives Roche/Genentech Jump On PD-L1 Bladder Cancer Market

By granting an approval four months ahead of schedule of Roche AG's and Genentech Inc.'s anti-PD-LI cancer immunotherapy Tecentriq (atezolizumab), the FDA may have helped the companies secure a better lead in the bladder cancer marketplace than the firms otherwise would have held. But already established immunotherapies, Merck & Co. Inc.'s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and Bristol-Myer Squibb Co.'s Opdivo (nivolumab), are in hot pursuit.