Roche, a global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics company, has announced that new results from a number of studies across 18 approved and investigational medicines will be presented during the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress from 8-12 September in Madrid, Spain. These include phase III results from Roche’s targeted medicines portfolio, including Zelboraf and Alecensa, updates from our cancer immunotherapy development programme across multiple tumour types and important new insights into the biology of cancer that will help further our understanding of this highly complex disease.

“Progress against cancer is accelerating as our understanding of the disease is enhanced by more sophisticated diagnostics, leading to increasingly tailored treatment approaches,” said Sandra Horning, MD, Roche’s chief medical officer and head of Global Product Development. “Continuing this progress will require both incremental and ground-breaking advancements as we collectively pursue cures for the many types of this incredibly complex disease. At ESMO, we are proud to share data from across our broad cancer programme and we look ahead to an unprecedented number of key milestones over the next 12 months.”

First results from the phase III BRIM8 study of Zelboraf for adjuvant (after surgery) treatment of BRAF V600 mutation-positive melanoma will be presented during ESMO’s Presidential Symposium on Monday 11 September 2017.

Additional highlights from the Roche oncology portfolio include new data from the phase III ALEX study investigating Alecensa in anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive NSCLC in the first-line setting. These new data further characterise the impact of Alecensa treatment on lung cancer that has the potential to, or has, spread to the central nervous system, building on the study’s positive primary results that were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting earlier this year. In addition, Roche will present new results from the phase III ALUR study of Alecensa in ALK-positive advanced NSCLC that compared Alecensa to chemotherapy in people who had been previously treated with chemotherapy as well as crizotinib.

Results from the phase II LORELEI study1 evaluating neoadjuvant (pre-surgery) use of taselisib in HER2-negative/oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive early breast cancer will provide additional insights into the potential role of PI3K inhibition in HER2-negative/ER-positive disease. These data from BRIM8, ALEX, ALUR, and LORELEI are included in the official ESMO press programme.

Roche will also present updates on the progress made in the understanding of the biology and immunology of cancer, including data generated in collaboration with Foundation Medicine. At ESMO, data will be presented for the first time for a blood-based assay that is used to measure tumour mutational burden (TMB). Measuring TMB by comprehensive genomic profiling summarises how many mutations are present in a person’s tumour and may be a way to predict responses to certain cancer immunotherapies. The validation study being presented at ESMO was conducted using samples from the phase II POPLAR and phase III OAK studies of TECENTRIQÒ (atezolizumab) and provides initial, retrospective evidence of an association between TMB in the blood (bTMB) and TECENTRIQ activity. These early data will inform ongoing and future prospective research to better understand the role of both TMB and bTMB as it relates to treatment with cancer immunotherapy.