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Author: Jean-Claude Muller, 穆卓Executive Editor at BtoBioInnovation  jcm9144@gmail.com

SPECIAL REPORT #13

News in the Oncology Field

The US FDA has approved the combination of Roche’s Tecentriq with Celgene Abraxane as a treatment for patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) whose tumors express the PD-L1 protein. This approval makes the combination the first immunotherapy cleared for the treatment of any type of breast cancer. 

Tecentriq or atezolizumab, is a monoclonal antibody designed to bind with PD-L1 expressed on tumor cells and to inhibit the interaction of PD-L1 with both PD-1 and B7.1 receptors. Tecentriq is already approved as a treatment for lung and bladder cancer.

Abraxane or Nab-paclitaxel (a nanoparticle albumin bound form of paclitaxel which makes it soluble) has improved pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic features over paclitaxel or taxol, a well-established chemotherapy agent.

The fast track approval by the FDA comes after the publication of a study published in the New England of Medicine, last October, showing an extended progression-free survival (PFS) of 7.4 months versus 4.8 months for the patient population receiving the chemotherapy alone. Final approval should be received after subsequent positive clinical outcomes in September 2020.

About 15% of breast cancers are triple-negative, often affecting young women, and do not respond to currently available treatments.

It may come as a surprise to combine an immunotherapy agent with chemotherapy, since both activities are almost opposite. Chemotherapy is needs to “rough out” the exterior of the cancer cell to allow the immune system to recognize and attack the invader. “We are using chemotherapy to tear away the tumor’s immune-protectice cloak to expose it and enabling people ‘s own immune system to get at it” said lead study author Dr. Peter Schmid of Queen Mary University of London.

This approval will bring Roche back on leading the marketing expertise in the breast cancer field, an expertise gathered through years of development and selling of Herceptin or Trastuzumab and Perjeta or Pertuzumab.

AstraZeneca partners with Seres Therapeutics (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) in order to study and understand how the microbiote may boost the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy including combination therapies. The partnership aims at assessing microbiome-based approaches as a predictor for selecting patients most suited for certain cancer immunotherapies. Seres Therapeutics has developed a platform that enables the understanding of the dysbiosis associated with specific diseases and discover novel products designed to restore the function of a dysbiotic microbiome.

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