BRIEF—Basilea partners with Roche to trial derazantinib and atezolizumab in urothelial cancer

Swiss biopharma Basilea has entered a collaboration to explore a combination of derazantinb (BAL087) and Roche’s PD-L1-blocking immune-checkpoint inhibitor, Tecentriq (atezolizumab). The study is planned for mid-2019.

The collaboration aims to evaluate safety, tolerability and efficacy of the combination in patients with urothelial cancer and confirmed FGFR genomic aberrations. Roche will provide the clinical supply of atezolizumab. The study will be funded by Basilea.

Peter Lawrence, president and chief operating officer of Basilea’s partner, ArQule, said: “This new combination trial with Tecentriq represents an important step in the development of derazantinib and has the potential to expand meaningfully its therapeutic utility.”

Derazantinib was licensed to Basilea in April 2018 in the USA, European Union, Japan and the rest of world excluding China. Under the terms of the license agreement, ArQule is eligible to receive up to $326 million in regulatory and commercial milestone payments.