Tecentriq surprises in adjuvant liver cancer

Given the mixed track record of Roche’s Tecentriq in perioperative cancer uses, today’s apparent success of the Imbrave-050 trial comes as a pleasant surprise. The study tested Tecentriq plus Avastin in adjuvant liver cancer, and the combo is said to have beaten active surveillance alone on its primary endpoint of relapse-free survival. The precise contribution of Avastin to this result is unknown, but the success comes after the same combo was approved three years ago for first-line inoperable liver cancer on the basis of Imbrave-150. Tecentriq’s other perioperative success was in adjuvant NSCLC, where the drug is approved in ≥1% PD-L1 expressers on the basis of Impower-010, and an Abraxane combo read out positively in the perioperative triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) trial Impassion-031, albeit on pathological complete response, likely not an approvable endpoint. Apart from that Tecentriq monotherapy and combos have failed several pivotal perioperative trials, including Imvigor-010, Imagyn-050, Impassion-050 and Immotion-010; the next big readout, from Impassion-030 in adjuvant TNBC, is expected soon. Specifically in adjuvant liver cancer this year could also see data from three other anti-PD-(L)1 drugs: Shanghai Junshi’s toripalimab, Astrazeneca’s Imfinzi and Innovent’s sintilimab.