Roche notches fresh win amid crowd of immunotherapy cocktails

Procter & Gamble Health

06/02/2018 14:43

* Roche mix cuts death risk in kidney cancer 
    * Bristol study last year had mixed results 
    * Roche's Tecentriq sales trail rivals' blockbusters 
 
    By John Miller 
    ZURICH, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Roche's  ROG.S  Tecentriq mixed 
with an older drug cut the risk of death in kidney cancer, 
marking another win for the Swiss drugmaker's immuno-oncology 
(I/O) cocktail as it battles better-established medicines made 
by its rivals.  
    Tecentriq, paired with Roche's Avastin, cut risk of renal 
cell carcinoma advancing or death (PFS) by 26 percent in 
patients whose tumours expressed high levels of a protein 
believed to help avoid immune detection, the Basel-based 
drugmaker said on Tuesday. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1OB0I1 
    Roche said the overall survival benefit in its IMmotion 151 
trial looked encouraging, but that data was not yet mature. 
    Success of Roche's trial, so far, compares favorably with 
the mixed results in last year's study by Bristol-Myers Squibb 
 BMY.N  for its Opdivo and Yervoy combination against kidney 
cancer.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1LO3Q6 
    "Today's results are good, as IMmotion 151 met the 
co-primary endpoint of PFS, while Bristol's CheckMate-214 
missed," Bank Vontobel analysts wrote in a note to investors. 
    Roche shares fell 1.2 percent at 1350 GMT, less than the 1.8 
percent drop of the Stoxx European Health Care Index.  .SXDP  
    This is the second time Tecentriq with Avastin has 
succeeded, after a separate study in December showed the 
cocktail helped lung cancer patients.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1O70XS 
    Still, Roche has an uphill fight to establish Tecentriq as a 
go-to immunotherapy amid a pack of immunotherapy combinations 
from rivals that have also scored recent trial wins. 
    Bristol reported on Monday that Opdivo and Yervoy boosted 
life expectancy in lung cancer patients whose tumours had many 
mutations.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1PV4QP 
    Meanwhile, Merck's  MERK.NS  Keytruda immunotherapy plus 
chemotherapy aced a lung cancer trial last month.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1PB4KJ 
    So far, Tecentriq with its 487 million Swiss francs ($519.30 
million) in sales in 2017 is still chasing Merck's Keytruda with 
$3.8 billion and Bristol's Opdivo with $4.9 billion. 
    The success of three different approaches against different 
cancers suggests doctors will face tough decisions over which 
cocktail to use, since tumours of the same organs can differ 
wildly from patient to patient. 
    "Physicians will have a challenge deciding which biomarker 
to use to and which therapeutic option to consequently 
prioritise," Barclays analyst Emmanuel Papadakis said.  
    With its medicine fighting to gain traction, Roche says 
understanding which immunotherapy combination works best remains 
a work in progress. The Swiss drugmaker has six Tecentriq trials 
to read out by July. 
    "As we approach the end of this year, we'll have a much 
clearer evidence base," Roche drugs division chief Dan O'Day 
said on Friday. 
     
    ($1 = 0.9378 Swiss francs) 
 
 (Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Edmund Blair) 
 ((J.Miller@thomsonreuters.com; +41 58 306 7734; Reuters 
Messaging: j.miller.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: ROCHE CANCER/TECENTRIQ