Roche immunotherapy drug shrinks tumors in early bladder cancer study

Roche's experimental drug that spurs the immune system to fight cancer shrank tumors in 43 percent of people with a specific type of metastatic bladder cancer, according to results of an early-stage trial published on Saturday. The drug MPDL3280A is part of a closely-watched class of treatments known as anti-PDL1 therapies, which work by blocking a tumor's ability to evade the immune system's defense. Data from the Phase I trial presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago found MPDL3280A shrank tumors in 13 out of 30 patients who had been previously treated for metastatic urothelial bladder cancer. "It’s exciting to see a potential new treatment for bladder cancer patients who have been waiting a long time for new therapies," said Peter Johnson, chief clinician at Cancer Research UK whose experimental cancer medicine center was used in the trial.