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Patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) lived significantly longer without disease recurrence if they received atezolizumab (Tecentriq) after surgery and chemotherapy, a large randomized trial showed.
Median disease-free survival (DFS) had yet to be reached after a median follow-up of 32.8 months, but the results met criteria for statistical significance, showing a 34% reduction in the hazard ratio for patients with stage II-IIIa disease and PD-L1 tumor cell expression ≥1%, said Heather Wakelee, MD, of Stanford University Medical Center in California, during a press briefing in advance of the virtual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting.
An analysis limited to patients with stage II-IIIa disease (irrespective of PD-L1 expression) showed they were significantly more likely to be alive and disease free if they received atezolizumab instead of best supportive care (BSC) after chemotherapy. An intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis of all randomized patients showed a trend in favor of atezolizumab but has yet to achieve statistical superiority.