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ASCO conference: Roche drug combo delays cancer progression in phase 3 study

Roche Holding AG said a combination of Tecentriq and chemotherapy reduced the risk of the disease worsening or death in a phase 3 study among patients with previously untreated lung cancer.

The study, named IMpower131, involved 1,021 patients with previously untreated advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer, a difficult to treat subtype of lung cancer.

Divided into three arms, the first group was given a combination of Tecentriq plus chemotherapy medications carboplatin and paclitaxel, the second group received Tecentriq plus carboplatin and Celgene Corp.'s Abraxane, or nab-paclitaxel, and the third group was given carboplatin and Abraxane.

Roche compared the data from the second and the third arms in the results.

The study results, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, showed that patients on the combination of Tecentriq, carboplatin and Abraxane lived for a median of 6.3 months without the disease worsening, compared to 5.6 months for patients receiving carboplatin and Abraxane.

Roche compared the second and third groups for the purposes of the study.

The Swiss drugmaker said the Tecentriq combination reduced the risk of disease worsening or death, or progression-free survival, by 29% compared with the carboplatin and Abraxane combination.

However, at the interim analysis, the company did not observe a statistically significant benefit in the duration of survival among patients since the treatment began. The study will continue as planned.

The safety profile of Tecentriq plus carboplatin and Abraxane was consistent with the safety profiles of the individual drugs.

Roche added that 20% of the patients in the Tecentriq combination group reported serious adverse events related to the treatment, compared to 10% for those who received carboplatin and Abraxane.

The 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting is expected to bring together more than 32,000 professionals from all over the world, with more than 2,500 study abstracts to be presented on-site and an additional 3,350 abstracts to be published online.