Patients with advanced bladder cancer whose disease has progressed during or after treatment with platinum-containing chemotherapy, can now access the new immunotherapy atezolizumab (brand name Tecentriq) via routine NHS funding in England and Wales.1
Atezolizumab is recommended if it is stopped at two years of uninterrupted treatment or earlier, or if the disease progresses and Roche provides atezolizumab with the discount agreed in the patient access scheme. This provides clinicians and relapsed bladder cancer patients with an additional treatment option on the NHS.1
Allen Knight, Chairman of Action Bladder Cancer UK said, “Bladder cancer affects around 10,000 people each year in the UK and in its advanced form leads to poor outcomes; with only 15% of patients surviving more than five years. Bladder cancer has been seriously neglected for a long time and until recently there has been no significant new treatment options for patients in over 30 years. We welcome this news for patients with advanced bladder cancer.”
The decision is based on the totality of evidence from the Phase II/III IMvigor210 and IMvigor211 studies, demonstrating the clinical efficacy and safety of atezolizumab compared to therapies currently provided to patients in this setting.2-4 Atezolizumab side effects were manageable. Around one in five patients experienced Grade 3 or 4 adverse events (AEs), but only 7% and 8% stopped treatment because of side-effects in IMvigor211 and IMvigor210 respectively.1,2,5
Simon Eayrs, Cancer Immunotherapy Franchise Lead at Roche Products UK, commented, “We welcome the news that more bladder cancer patients will now be able to access atezolizumab via the NHS. Atezolizumab has received three out of three positive NICE recommendations, one of these within the Cancer Drugs Fund. We at Roche believe this demonstrates the importance of working collaboratively and flexibly with NICE and NHS England. We’re incredibly proud that patients are able to access the medicines we’ve worked so hard to develop.”
References
1 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2018) Final Appraisal Determination: Atezolizumab for treating metastatic urothelial cancer after platinum-based chemotherapy. May 2018
2 Bellmunt et al. IMvigor210: updated analyses of first-line (1L) atezolizumab (atezo) in cisplatin (cis)-ineligible locally advanced/metastatic urothelial carcinoma. Poster 782PD Presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO 2016) – October 7-11, 2016, Copenhagen, Denmark.
3 Hoffman-Censits JH, Grivas P, Van Der Heijden MS, et al. IMvigor 210, a phase II trial of atezolizumab (MPDL3280A) in platinum-treated locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC). J Clin Oncol 34, 2016 (suppl 2S; abstr 355).
4 Powles T et al. IMvigor211: A Phase III Randomized Study Examining Atezolizumab vs. Chemotherapy for Platinum-Treated Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma. Presented at the 2nd special conference EACR AACR SIC. EAS 2017.
5 Powles T et al. IMvigor211: A Phase III Randomized Study Examining Atezolizumab vs. Chemotherapy for Platinum-Treated Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma. Presented at the 2nd special conference EACR AACR SIC. EAS 2017.
