The immunotherapy drug atezolizumab (Tecentriq) has been approved for use in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the immunotherapy drug atezolizumab (Tecentriq, Genentech) for use in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have progressed during or after treatment with a platinum-based chemotherapy or appropriate targeted therapy, the manufacturer announced today.
Atezolizumab, a programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) inhibitor, was first approved in May for treatment of urothelial carcinoma. Researchers are currently testing the drug in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma or advanced melanoma.
The FDA determined that atezolizumab was safe and effective for treating NSCLC based on the phase III OAK and phase II POPLAR studies. In the OAK study, patients receiving atezolizumab lived a median 4.2 months longer than those treated with docetaxel chemotherapy.
