LONDON (Reuters) - The fresh blow to Roche's hopes in a closely watched class of cancer immunotherapies cast a long shadow across the crowded field on Wednesday, but the latest setback is not the end of the road for these oncology treatments, analysts say.
Roche said an interim analysis of an ongoing clinical trial showed that its experimental drug, tiragolumab, failed to meaningfully slow disease progression in newly diagnosed patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in combination with its approved PD-L1 immunotherapy Tecentriq, versus Tecentriq alone.
The study will continue to evaluate whether the combination helps patients live longer, the gold standard for cancer treatments.
The news comes after the Swiss drugmaker disclosed in March tiragolumab had failed to slow progression of a rarer, more aggressive form of lung cancer.
Analysts had assigned a higher likelihood of success to the NSCLC trial, since it included patients with the most common form of lung cancer with high levels of PD-L1 proteins targeted by Tecentriq.
This emerging class of so-called anti-TIGIT therapies has already triggered a flurry of research and deal activity, including by Gilead Sciences, Merck & Co and GSK. Drugmakers are looking to nab a piece of the lucrative cancer market focused on a protein believed to help cancer cells thwart immune system detection.
