Roche gets green light from Swissmedic for Tecentriq

08/10/2019

08/10/2019

Roche has obtained approval from (Swissmedic) for its drug Tecentriq (atézolizumab), used in the treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC). This anticancer drug is already authorized alone or in combination in many indications in oncology.

"For more than 30 years, there has been no therapeutic advance for patients with this form of lung cancer," said the Basel pharmaceutical company Tuesday.
The authorization of the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products (Swissmedic) is based on the results of the IMpower133 study, which showed that Tecentriq, in combination with chemotherapy, improved the survival of patients with SCLC at one stage. advanced compared to chemotherapy alone.
IMpower133 is "the first phase III study of an immunotherapeutic anticancer drug that demonstrates that a combination based on immunotherapy significantly improves survival in the first-line treatment of SCLC," Roche said in its statement.
The SCLC, which accounts for about 15% of lung cancers, is distinguished from other types of lung cancer by "its aggressiveness, its rapid growth and the early formation of metastases," says the laboratory Basel. In Switzerland, about 3500 people die each year from lung cancer, the company recalls in its statement.
The monoclonal antibody is already approved in the United States and in Europe in particular against various forms of cancer of the lung, bladder or breast. Tecentriq's revenues, which were growing rapidly, reached 782 million francs in the first six months of the year.
The Basel-based multinational is conducting many other research on Tecentriq, in a flock of other indications in oncology, including the bladder, peri-genital areas, skin, breasts, digestive tract or head and neck.

ats, awp