Roche's Tecentriq Becomes Second In PD-1/L1 Family To Gain First-Line Lung Cancer Approval

07 Dec 2018

• By Emily Hayes

The PD-L1 inhibitor's label excludes NSCLC patients with EGFR or ALK mutations, which could have been an advantage, but the indication largely reflects the registrational IMpower150 clinical trial's population.

At long last, Roche's anti-PD-L1 Tecentriq was approved on Dec. 6 by the US FDA for use with the company's VEGF inhibitor Avastin and chemotherapy for first-line, metastatic non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), though patients with EGFR and ALK mutations were excluded, eliminating an expected labeling advantage.

Approval was supported by the results of the Phase III IMpower150 study, one of eight trials that are part of...