The combination of Roche’s Tecentriq and Exelixis’ Cabometyx reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 35% in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) in a phase 3 trial.
The CONTACT-02 pivotal study evaluated Exelixis’ tyrosine kinase inhibitor tablets in combination with Roche's immune checkpoint inhibitor infusion compared with a second novel hormonal therapy (NHT) in patients with mCRPC who had previously tried hormone therapy. At a median follow-up of 12 months, the median progression-free survival was 6.3 months for the Cabometyx-Tecentriq combo compared with 4.2 months for a second NHT.
According to Exelixis, while a trend toward overall survival improvement was observed, the data were immature and did not meet the threshold for statistical significance.
First approved in 2016, Exelixis’ Cabometyx carries approvals in kidney, liver and certain types of thyroid cancer. Roche's blockbuster, Tecentriq, also got its first nod in 2016, and now carries a list of approvals including lung cancer, liver cancer, melanoma and soft tissue cancer.
The two companies first partnered in 2017 to evaluate the potential of their two drugs used combination against multiple solid tumors.
Exelixis says it plans to discuss the CONTACT-02 results with the FDA, and will have the next analysis of overall survival available this year.
