667 people took part in this international
phase 2 trial. Some people left the trial before it ended. So, doctors looked at the results of 659 people.
Doctors put everyone into 3 groups depending on their previous cancer treatment. There was:
- 139 people who were having treatment for advanced NSCLC for the first time (group 1)
- 276 people whose cancer got worse during or after treatment with platinum chemotherapy
(group 2)
- 253 people whose cancer got worse during or after treatment with more than 2 different chemotherapy treatments and one was with a platinum chemotherapy (group 3)
Everyone had atezolizumab every 3 weeks. This continued for as long as it was helping them and the side effects weren’t too bad.
Results
The trial team looked at how well atezolizumab worked. To do this they looked at the number of people who had no signs of their cancer (complete response) or whose cancers shrank (partial response) after treatment with atezolizumab.
They also wanted to know if the number of people whose cancers shrank or disappeared was different based on whether they had high or low levels of PD-L1.
They found that, in people with higher levels of PD-L1:
- 17 out of 65 people (26%) from group 1 had a complete or partial response
- 29 out of 122 people (24%) from group 2 had a complete or partial response
- 31 out of 115 people (27%) from group 3 had a complete or partial response
In people with lower levels of PD-L1:
- 27 out of 139 people (20%) from group 1 had a complete or partial response
- 46 out of 267 people (17%) from group 2 had a complete or partial response
- 44 out of 253 people (17%) from group 3 had a complete or partial response
The trial team also looked at the average length of time that people who had a complete or partial response lived without any signs of their cancer getting worse.
That found that, in people with higher levels of PD-L1, it was about 7 months for people in group 3. Doctors could not look at these results for people in group 1 or group 2. This was because their cancer did not get worse by the time doctors looked at the results.
People with lower levels of PD-L1 and whose cancers shrank or disappeared, lived about 8 and a half months without any signs of their cancer getting worse.
Side effects
The trial team looked at the most common side effects from treatment that people had. Side effects included:
Conclusion
The researchers were able to learn more about atezolizumab as a treatment for advanced NSCLC that had tested positive for PD-L1.
Doctors look at the results of many studies to decide which drugs work best and are safe for people. Other studies with atezolizumab are going on to help doctors be sure of how well this treatment works.
We have based this summary on information from the research team. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (
peer reviewed 
) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team who did the research. We have not analysed the data ourselves.