Roche's Tecentriq/Cotellic combo therapy fails to impress in colorectal cancer

Roche has been rocked by a Phase 3 weak showing from its combination Tecentriq (atezolizumab) and Cotellic (cobimetinib) in people with heavily pre-treated locally advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC), which failed to meet its primary endpoint in patient’s whose disease progressed or who proved intolerant to at least two systemic chemotherapy regimens.

The combo did not live up to expectations, failing to improve overall survival (OS) compared to regorafenib (Bayer’s Stivarga). Over 95% of the 363 participants enrolled in the trial have microsatellite stable (MSS) tumours, which, according to available data, have not proved clinically responsive to checkpoint inhibitors as monotherapy. This was reinforced in the results of the trial, where the Tecentriq-alone group did not see clinically-meaningful results.

The safety profile of the drug pair remained consistent with previous findings.  

"While these results are not what we hoped for, we remain committed to applying our deep experience to develop medicines that will improve outcomes for people living with gastrointestinal cancers," said Dr Sandra Horning, Roche’s Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Product Development. "In particular, we have a number of studies evaluating medicines in colorectal cancer that could play an important role in the treatment of people with this disease in the future."

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