AFTER surgery, more than half of patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer experience a relapse. For the first time, a molecule that acts on the immune system proves that it can extend the time between surgery and the return of the disease. The drug is atezolizumab and the data presented at the congress of the European Society of Oncology confirm those already presented at the American congress last June and at the world congress dedicated to lung oncology that took place a few weeks ago. The benefit appears greater in patients who have an expression of PD-L1 ≥1%, a marker used to determine precisely the degree of sensitivity of the tumor to immunotherapy: in these patients the relapse rate was lower than that observed in patients who received the best supportive therapy (29% vs 45%). In addition, an extensive subgroup analysis of patients expressing PD-L1 found that those with ≥50% PD-L1 expression benefit most from immunotherapy as adjuvant therapy. An effective action for both local recurrences and metastases in other parts of the body.
Atezolizumab as adjuvant therapy
“The update of the IMpower010 study confirms the role of atezolizumab after adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with fully resected early stage non-small cell lung cancer,” said Antonio Passaro of the National Cancer Institute in Milan. “It is reassuring that, although there are no differences in the relapse pattern between the two arms of the trial, the sites of relapses are those expected in this setting. The long-term analyzes of this study will provide very useful information on the use of immunotherapeutic agents in metastatic disease following the use of adjuvant atezolizumab ”.
Based on the data obtained so far from the IMpower010 study, the American Medicines Agency (FDA) is examining the adjuvant indication for atezolizumab with accelerated timing and is expected to rule by the beginning of December. Atezolizumab has been shown to be effective in several types of lung cancer.
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