On October 18, the FDA granted approval to TECENTRIQ® (atezolizumab) for the treatment of people with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have disease progression during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy, and have progressed on an appropriate FDA-approved targeted therapy if their tumor has EGFR or ALK gene abnormalities.
What is the most important information about TECENTRIQ?
TECENTRIQ can cause your immune system to attack normal organs and tissues in any area of your body and can affect the way they work. These problems can sometimes become severe or life-threatening and can lead to death. You can have more than one of these problems at the same time. These problems may happen anytime during your treatment or even after your treatment has ended.
Call or see your healthcare provider right away if you develop any new or worse signs or symptoms, including:
Lung problems
Intestinal problems
Liver problems
Hormone gland problems
Kidney problems
Skin problems
Problems can also happen in other organs.
These are not all of the signs and symptoms of immune system problems that can happen with TECENTRIQ. Call or see your healthcare provider right away for any new or worse signs or symptoms, including:
Infusion reactions that can sometimes be severe or life-threatening. Signs and symptoms of infusion reactions may include:
Complications, including graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), in people who have received a bone marrow (stem cell) transplant that uses donor stem cells (allogeneic). These complications can be serious and can lead to death. These complications may happen if you underwent transplantation either before or after being treated with TECENTRIQ. Your healthcare provider will monitor you for these complications.
Getting medical treatment right away may help keep these problems from becoming more serious. Your healthcare provider will check you for these problems during your treatment with TECENTRIQ. Your healthcare provider may treat you with corticosteroid or hormone replacement medicines. Your healthcare provider may also need to delay or completely stop treatment with TECENTRIQ if you have severe side effects.
Before you receive TECENTRIQ, tell your healthcare provider about all of your medical conditions, including if you:
Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.
The most common side effects of TECENTRIQ when used alone include:
The most common side effects of TECENTRIQ when used in lung cancer with other anti-cancer medicines include:
The most common side effects of TECENTRIQ when used in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with bevacizumab include:
The most common side effects of TECENTRIQ when used in melanoma with cobimetinib and vemurafenib include:
TECENTRIQ may cause fertility problems in females, which may affect the ability to have children. Talk to your healthcare provider if you have concerns about fertility.
These are not all the possible side effects of TECENTRIQ. Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist for more information about the benefits and side effects of TECENTRIQ.
You may report side effects to the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch. You may also report side effects to Genentech at 1-888-835-2555.
Please see full Prescribing Information and Medication Guide for additional Important Safety Information.
“TECENTRIQ is a new option to help people with this type of previously treated metastatic lung cancer, regardless of PD-L1 expression, live longer than chemotherapy. TECENTRIQ is the first and only approved cancer immunotherapy designed to target the PD-L1 protein, which may play an important role in the way the medicine works.’’