Chugai Pharmaceutical...announced that it obtained regulatory approval for an additional indication of the anti-cancer agent/humanized anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody Tecentriq® Intravenous Infusion 1200 mg [generic name: atezolizumab (genetical recombination)] for the adjuvant treatment of PD-L1-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare....VENTANA OptiView PD-L1 (SP263), a pathological testing kit marketed by Roche Diagnostics K.K., should be used to detect PD-L1 expression.

We investigated the efficacy and safety of 1-year atezolizumab treatment following 60 Gy of dCRT in patients with unresectable locally advanced ESCC....In 35 patients with an evaluable PD-L1 tumor proportion score, the cCR rates of <1% and ≥1% were 44.4% and 41.2%, respectively. Multiplexed immunohistochemistry of 38 evaluable patients indicated significantly higher tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells and PD-1+CD8+ T cells before dCRT in 15 patients with cCR than in 23 without cCR (p=0.0002 and 0.0020, respectively)....Atezolizumab monotherapy following dCRT resulted in a promising cCR rate and led to promising long-term survival. Tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells and PD-1+CD8+ T cells can serve as biomarkers for cCR.