The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the Roche’s supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) and granted Priority Review for Tecentriq (atezolizumab) for the treatment of people with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) who are ineligible for cisplatin chemotherapy, and are either previously untreated (first-line) or have disease progression at least 12 months after receiving chemotherapy before surgery (neoadjuvant) or after surgery (adjuvant). Urothelial carcinoma accounts for 90 percent of all bladder cancers and can also be found in the renal pelvis, ureter and urethra.

“In May 2016, Tecentriq became the first treatment approved by the FDA for people with previously treated advanced bladder cancer in more than 30 years,” said Sandra Horning, managing director, chief medical officer and head of global product development. “We are committed to continue working with the FDA to make Tecentriq available to more people with this type of advanced bladder cancer, specifically those who are unable to tolerate cisplatin-based chemotherapy as an initial treatment.”

This sBLA submission for Tecentriq is based on results from the Phase II IMvigor210 study, and the FDA will make a decision on approval by 30 April 2017. A Priority Review designation is granted to medicines that the FDA has determined to have the potential to provide significant improvements in the safety and effectiveness of the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of a serious disease.

Tecentriq is currently approved by the FDA to treat people with locally advanced or mUC who have disease progression during or following platinum-based chemotherapy or whose disease has worsened within 12 months of neoadjuvant or adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy. Tecentriq is approved under accelerated approval for this indication based on tumour response rate and duration of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. Tecentriq is also approved for the treatment of people with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have disease progression during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy, and have progressed on an appropriate FDA-approved targeted therapy if their tumour has EGFR or ALK gene abnormalities.