A combination of Roche’s Tecentriq (atezolizumab) and Exelixis/Ipsen’s Cabometyx (cabozantinib) has shown promising results in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), according to phase 3 data detailed by Exelixis.
The late-stage CONTACT-02 trial has been evaluating the combination compared to a second novel hormonal therapy (NHT) in patients with mCRPC and measurable extra-pelvic soft tissue disease who have progressed on one prior NHT.
Approximately 299,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the US and over 35,000 people will die from the disease in 2024, according to the American Cancer Society.
Patients diagnosed with mCRPC – when the disease has spread beyond the prostate and does not respond to androgen-suppression therapies – often have a poor prognosis, with an estimated survival of one to two years.
The Tecentriq/Cabometyx combination demonstrated a reduction in the risk of disease progression or death by 35% compared with second NHT.
Detailed results presented at this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium showed that, at a median follow-up of 14.3 months for the first 400 randomised patients in the intent-to-treat (PFS ITT) population, the hazard ratio was 0.65. The median PFS was 6.3 months for Tecentriq/Cabometyx combination, compared with 4.2 months for second NHT.
Additionally, after a follow-up of 12 months, the ITT population had a median overall survival (OS) of 16.7 months, compared to 14.6 months in the hormone population. Despite this trend towards OS improvement, the data was immature and did not meet the threshold for statistical significance, and the study will continue to the next analysis of OS.
“Patients with mCRPC with prior progression on a novel hormone therapy and who have measurable soft tissue metastasis experience the worst outcomes among advanced prostate cancer patients and have limited treatment options,” said global lead investigator of the trial, Neeraj Agarwal, the University of Utah.
He continued: “CONTACT-02 is the only phase 3 study evaluating a tyrosine kinase inhibitor and an immune checkpoint inhibitor to show a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival and a trend for overall survival in these patients. I am encouraged by these results and the potential for [Cabometyx] plus [Tecentriq] to be a widely available treatment option for our patients.”