Tecentriq Receives New Indication

December 6, 2018 – The U.S. FDA has approved a new indication for Tecentriq® (atezolizumab), manufactured by Genentech. The drug is now approved to provide first-line treatment, when used in combination with Genentech’s Avastin® (bevacizumab), for patients who have metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations.

In clinical studies, patients who received Tecentriq and Avastin plus chemotherapy had a median overall survival of 19.2 months, versus 14.7 months for patients who received Avastin and chemotherapy. Patients who received Tecentriq, Avastin, and chemotherapy had a 29% reduced risk of death compared to patients treated with Avastin and chemotherapy, and an overall response rate of 55% versus 42%. The median duration of response was 10.8 months with the Tecentriq, Avastin, and chemotherapy combination; for Avastin and chemotherapy, it was 6.5 months.

Recommended dosing under the new indication is 1,200mg of Tecentriq given by intravenous (IV) infusion over the course of one hour. If patients tolerate their first infusion well, the duration can be reduced to 30 minutes. Treatment with Tecentriq is followed by the administration of Avastin and chemotherapy on the same day. The regimen should be repeated every three weeks, and after four to six cycles, patients should continue with Tecentriq and Avastin without chemotherapy.

Tecentriq first received FDA approval in 2016. In addition to NSCLC, it is approved to treat locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma.