Two new cancer Priority Reviews for Roche
Pharmaphorum Media Limited | February 19, 2019
Roche has announced that the FDA has granted Priority Review to two of its drugs – personalized lung cancer medicine entrectinib and lymphoma treatment polatuzumab vedotin. Entrectinib is a selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor being developed for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients whose tumors carry NTRK fusions or ROS1 fusions. Pfizer’s Xalkori is already approved to treat patients with ROS1 mutations (alongside its use in ALK+ patients), but entrectinib looks superior, thanks in part to its ability to pass through the blood-brain barrier and possibly prevent brain metastases.
“Entrectinib represents a unique approach to cancer treatment that can potentially target a range of hard-to-treat and rare NTRK fusion-positive tumors regardless of their site of origin, as well as treat ROS1-positive non-small cell lung cancer,” said Sandra Horning, Roche’s chief medical officer and head of global product development. The drug has also been granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the FDA, priority medicines (PRIME) designation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA); and Sakigake designation by the Japanese health authorities. Roche added entrectinib to its pipeline with it acquired oncology biotech Ignyta for $1.7 billion in 2017, boosting its position in the extremely competitive lung cancer field.