Dr. Peter O'Donnell on Atezolizumab and IMvigor 210

Peter O’Donnell, MD, an assistant professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the phase II IMvigor 210 study, which led to the approval of PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in May 2016 as a treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC).

The study included over 300 patients who were all treated with prior platinum-based therapy in the metastatic setting. All patients received atezolizumab once every 3 weeks.

Atezolizumab had an overall response rate (ORR) of 15% in patients with locally advanced or mUC, regardless of PD-L1 expression. Among patients with PD-L1 expression ≥5%, ORR was 26%.

It is notable that the drug worked in patients that both did and did not express PD-L1, said O’Donnell.

The therapy was also quite tolerable. There was a 15% rate of grade 3 and 4 adverse events, an acceptable rate compared with other therapies used for metastatic disease, said O’Donnell.