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 The trial tested the combination against the current standard of
care, Pfizer's Sutent, in patients with inoperable, locally advanced
or metastatic renal cell carcinoma. The result follows data last
week that showed a Tecentriq cocktail also slowed disease
progression in first-line lung cancer treatment.
Tecentriq, whose sales pale compared to established immunotherapies
from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck & Co Inc, is key to Roche's plan
to replace revenue from its $20 billion-per-year trio of Avastin,
Herceptin and Rituxan, whose expiring patents have exposed them to
cheaper competition.
As a consequence it is seeking to expand indications and patients
eligible for treatment with the Tecentriq cocktail, which analysts
polled by Reuters see topping $4.6 billion in annual sales by 2023.
"We are encouraged by these results as they add to the emerging body
of evidence that supports our rationale for this combination," said
Sandra Horning, Roche's chief medical officer.
"We believe that the regimen of Tecentriq and Avastin may enhance
the potential of the immune system in the initial treatment of
advanced kidney cancer."
Roche shares were up 0.3 percent at 1030 GMT, roughly in line with
the Stoxx European Health Care Index.
COMPETITION
Even so, some analysts have expressed doubt that Tecentriq's study
results so far have adequately differentiated it from Merck's
Keytruda or Bristol-Myers Squibb's Opdivo for it to dominate the
market for drugs that help the immune system better fight cancer.
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Roche plans to present actual data from the trial only in 2018, so
it will be difficult until then to make a comparison with
Bristol-Myers Squibb's combination of Opdivo and Yervoy against
kidney cancer.
In September, U.S.-based Bristol-Myers Squibb reported that its
combination of Opdivo and Yervoy cut the risk of death by 37 percent
in a key group of kidney cancer patients.
The "competition sets the bar", said Jefferies analyst Jeffrey
Holford, in a note to investors.
"While we will have to await full presentation at an upcoming
conference to assess the exact magnitude of the benefit provided by
the (Roche) combination, the confirmation that it is a clinically
meaningful benefit should be reassuring," he said.
Holford has a "buy" rating on Roche shares.
(Editing by Michael Shields and Gareth Jones)
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