Roche scores win in type of aggressive breast cancer that slows down

ZURICH / MUNICH (Reuters) – A Roche immunotherapy cocktail has helped slow down a type of aggressive breast cancer, while new treatments have proven elusive, offering positive news for the Swiss drug maker while he pursues the drugs produced by his competitors.

Data from Saturday's trials highlighted the treatment of triple-negative tumors, which affect 15% of breast cancer patients, typically affecting younger women than average.

The benefit of Tecentriq was found to be most beneficial in approximately 40% of trial participants who had high levels of a protein called PD-L1, which helps tumors avoid detection by the immune system.

These women lived for an average of 7.5 months without worsening their disease (PFS) with the initial Tecentriq Roche chemotherapy plus treatment, versus 5 months for those receiving chemotherapy alone, which is the current treatment standard.

Peter Schmid, clinical director of St. Bartholomew's Breast Cancer Center in London and lead author of the study, said the findings "will change the way triple-negative breast cancer is treated".

"All the benefits have been observed in the positive subgroup for PD-L1 … We have a very targeted treatment and a targeted population," he added.

The overall survival (OS) data from the IMpassion 130 study is not yet ripe, but Sandra Horning, Roche's chief medical officer, told Reuters that she had something to be optimistic about.

Patients who received the Tecentriq cocktail experienced an average of 21.3 months, compared to 17.6 months for chemotherapy patients, she explained.

Horning said the results gave new hope to people with difficult illnesses for which patients and physicians desperately needed new treatment options.

"It's really amazing to see some benefit in terms of survival in triple negative breast cancer," she said. "We are very excited about the degree of effect."

Roche has filed a request for approval with the regulators.

Triple negative tumors do not have hormone receptors or HER2 receptors. As a result, patients receive neither hormone treatment nor HER2-targeted drugs, such as Roche's flagship product, Herceptin, with $ 7 billion a year, or Tykerb from GlaxoSmithKline.

In July, Roche announced that the study of 902 patients had shown that Tecentriq was associated with the results of improved chemotherapy, but the specific data were published at the European Society's annual congress. medical oncology in Munich on Saturday.

NICHE ASPIRATIONS

Because Roche's Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb Tecentriq immunotherapies are the leading form of lung cancer, General Manager Severin Schwan is looking for smaller but still lucrative treatment areas where he can get early approval.

So far, Tecentriq's sales have increased by 50% in the first nine months, reaching 524 million Swiss francs ($ 528 million), but this is only a fraction of sales generated by Merck, Keytruda and Bristol control point blockbuster inhibitors, Opdivo.

The less common type of small cell lung cancer also gives Roche the opportunity to win the regulatory blessing.

"Roche has more of a niche approach and is looking to have clearly defined markets with dedicated studies," said Gregoire Biollaz, fund manager at Pictet Asset Management.

Roche, the largest manufacturer of anti-cancer drugs, needs Tecentriq to succeed. Roche's three leading anti-cancer drugs, Avastin, Herceptin, and Rituxan, generate annual sales of $ 21 billion, but expiry of patents already exposes them to competition from cheaper copies made by competitors.

The rivals Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb are testing their own combinations of immunotherapy against a triple-negative disease, including with partners.