Hoffmann-La Roche Limited (Roche Canada) announced that on January 14, 2022, Health Canada has authorized TECENTRIQ® (atezolizumab) as monotherapy for adjuvant treatment following complete resection and no progression after platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy for adult patients with stage II to IIIA* non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have PD-L1 expression on ≥ 50% of tumor cells (TCs).
TECENTRIQ is a type of cancer immunotherapy treatment. Immunotherapy may work by helping the immune system fight the cancerous cells. TECENTRIQ works by attaching to a specific protein in your body called Programmed Death Ligand-1, or "PD-L1". This protein makes the immune system in your body not work as well. By attaching to the protein, TECENTRIQ helps your immune system to fight your cancer and may reactivate the anti-tumor immune response.
"The burden of lung cancer is significant and treatment innovation at any stage is important to provide more options," says Shem Singh, Executive Director Lung Cancer Canada. "With this approval, Canadians living with NSCLC now have another option when it comes to managing the disease at an early stage and potentially improving quality of life."
The approval is based on data from the Phase III IMpower010 study comparing TECENTRIQ to best supportive care (BSC) after adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy in patients with completely resected early-stage non-small cell lung cancer. In this study, a clinically meaningful improvement in disease-free survival (DFS) in the TECENTRIQ arm was shown compared to the BSC arm in patients with PD-L1 TC ≥ 50% stage II to IIIA.
TECENTRIQ has nine currently approved indications in Canada, two of which are approved with conditions (NOC/c). For the adjuvant treatment of early-stage NSCLC, TECENTRIQ is available in three dosing options, providing the flexibility to choose administration every two, three or four weeks.
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