Roche announced that the company is voluntarily withdrawing the US indication for Tecentriq (atezolizumab) in prior-platinum treated metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC, bladder cancer). This decision was made in consultation with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as part of an industry-wide review of accelerated approvals with confirmatory trials that have not met their primary endpoint(s) and have yet to gain regular approvals.
Roche will work with the US FDA over the coming weeks to complete the withdrawal process. This decision does not affect other approved indications for Tecentriq. Roche is notifying healthcare professionals about this withdrawal. Patients being treated with Tecentriq for prior-platinum treated mUC should discuss their care with their healthcare provider.
“The Accelerated Approval Program allows people with difficult-to-treat cancers to receive certain new therapies earlier,” said Levi Garraway, M.D., Ph.D., Roche’s chief medical officer and head of Global Product Development. “While the withdrawal of Tecentriq for prior-platinum treated bladder cancer is disappointing, Tecentriq continues to demonstrate benefits across multiple cancer types and therefore remains a meaningful treatment option for many patients.”
The US FDA's Accelerated Approval Program allows conditional approval of a medicine that fills an unmet medical need for a serious condition, with specific post marketing requirements (PMRs) to confirm the clinical benefit and convert to regular approval.
Tecentriq was granted accelerated approval in 2016 for the treatment of prior-platinum treated mUC based on the results from the IMvigor210 study (Cohort 2). Continued approval for this indication was contingent upon the results of IMvigor211, the original PMR for the prior-platinum treated mUC indication. This study did not meet its primary endpoint of overall survival in the PD-L1 high patient population. Subsequently, the US FDA designated the IMvigor130 study as the PMR which will still continue until the final analysis. However, as the treatment landscape in prior-platinum (second-line) mUC has rapidly evolved with the emergence of new treatment options, Roche is voluntarily withdrawing this indication in recognition of the principles of the Accelerated Approval Program.
Tecentriq is a monoclonal antibody designed to bind with a protein called Programmed Death Ligand-1 (PD-L1), which is expressed on tumour cells and tumour-infiltrating immune cells, blocking its interactions with both PD-1 and B7.1 receptors. By inhibiting PD-L1, Tecentriq may enable the activation of T-cells. Tecentriq is a cancer immunotherapy that has the potential to be used as a foundational combination partner with other immunotherapies, targeted medicines and various chemotherapies across a broad range of cancers. The development of Tecentriq and its clinical programme is based on our greater understanding of how the immune system interacts with tumours and how harnessing a person’s immune system combats cancer more effectively
