Genentech announced it will present new results from 19 of the company’s cancer therapies at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, to be held in Chicago on June 3–7.
“The confluence of new medicines, sophisticated diagnostics and advanced technologies has created an unprecedented opportunity to improve outcomes for patients today and in the future,” Sandra Horning, MD, chief medical officer and head of Global Product Development, said in a press release. “At this year’s ASCO meeting, we look forward to presenting results from studies that have the potential to define new treatment approaches for cancers that have not seen significant progress in decades.”
More than 200 abstracts featuring Genentech medicines have been accepted, covering data for eight different cancer types. Among the studies, new trial results for atezolizumab, an investigational medicine, as a first-line treatment for metastatic bladder cancer will be presented, as well as new diagnostic and overall survival results in lung cancer and recurrent metastatic cancer.
Other studies will address the combination of atezolizumab with targeted therapies, such as cobimetinib and paclitaxel in colorectal and breast cancer, respectively. Results from a Phase 1b trial of atezolizumab in combination with the OX40 agonist MOX0916 in patients with solid tumors will also be presented.
Data from Alecensa, a kinase inhibitor approved for the treatment of patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive, metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are intolerant to or have progressed on crizotinib, will also be shown. The study, “Alectinib (ALC) versus crizotinib (CRZ) in ALK-inhibitor naïve ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (ALK+ NSCLC): Primary results from the J-ALEX study,” will reveal data from a randomized Phase 3 trial, the J-ALEX trial, comparing outcomes of Alecensa with crizotinib when administered to patients with ALK-positive advanced or recurrent NSCLC who had not been given any ALK inhibitor previously and had been subjected to a maximum of one chemotherapy treatment. Results have revealed the superiority of alectinib.
Other studies will report data from the company’s hematology medicines. They include results from rituximab (Rituxan), indicated for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients who received at least one prior therapy, combined with standard chemotherapy, in the treatment of children and adolescents with high-risk B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL) and mature acute leukemia (B-ALL). Results from Phase 1/2 trials of venetoclax (Venclexta) combined with other chemotherapeutic agents in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) will also be presented.
