(Length of Discussion - 9 min)

Dr. Alicia Morgans discusses with Dr. Guru Sonpavde the advances in the field of bladder cancer in regards to immunotherapy treatment approaches and recent ongoing clinical trials.  Dr. Morgans refers to these treatment options and new studies as bringing a freshness to a desert like climate which has been bladder cancer treatment over the past several decades. 

Dr. Sonpavde discusses the KEYNOTE-361 (NCT02853305), a phase III trial assessing pembrolizumab +/- chemotherapy vs chemotherapy for patients with advanced urothelial cancer.  The objective of this phase III randomized, open-label study is to assess first-line pembrolizumab ± chemotherapy versus chemotherapy in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma. 

Dr. Sonpavde also discusses the trial, A Safety Study of Enfortumab Vedotin Plus Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy for Patients With Urothelial Bladder Cancer (EV-103) enfortumab vedotin, an investigational antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) designed to deliver the cell-killing agent monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) to the target Nectin-4.  This is a single arm, open label multicenter trial that will enroll up to 85 patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who are ineligible for first line cisplatin-based chemotherapy or have progressed following treatment with a regimen containing platinum-based chemotherapy.

There is still room to standardize a routine use of these biomarkers in the clinic and assimilate the best treatment option and drug for the right patient at the right time but both Dr. Morgans and Dr. Sonpavde display much optimism in these new advances in the field.

Biographies: Guru Sonpavde, MD, Bladder Cancer Director, Dana Farber Cancer Center, Faculty, Harvard Medical School

Alicia Morgans, MD, MPH

Related Content Discussed in this Conversation:

Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer consensus statement on immunotherapy for the treatment of bladder carcinoma.

Enfortumab Vedotin Antibody-Drug Conjugate Targeting Nectin-4 is a Highly Potent Therapeutic Agent in Multiple Preclinical Cancer Models.

Phase 1b Trial of Enfortumab Vedotin in Combination with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapies in Locally Advanced or Metastatic Urothelial Cancer

Pembrolizumab ± chemotherapy versus chemotherapy in advanced urothelial cancer: Phase 3 KEYNOTE-361 trial


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