Key clinical trial data in urothelial carcinoma at ASCO 2021

Chemotherapy is central to the treatment of advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC), and platinum-based treatments, like cisplatin, have been the first-line treatment options for many years. To address the limitations of platinum-based chemotherapeutics, additional therapeutics have become available in more recent years for first- and second-line use. Specifically, for patients who are cisplatin-ineligible or those who relapse, immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as avelumab, pembrolizumab, and atezolizumab, targeting the program cell death 1 protein (PD-1) or its ligand (PD-L1), have gained FDA approval. Latest clinical trials have also combined immunotherapy drugs with novel therapies, like the antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin, to demonstrate high response rates; this has instigated further studies into comparison with platinum-based chemotherapeutics. Evidence of disruption to the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) signaling pathway in UC has also resulted in multiple studies investigating FGFR inhibitors, like rogaratinib, as a potential treatment option for patients with UC. In this deep dive, American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2021 presenters Petros Grivas, MD, PhD, University of Washington School of Medicine & Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA; Terence W. Friedlander, MD, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA; and Jonathan E. Rosenberg, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, will be sharing their insights into the latest advancements in immunotherapy for advanced urothelial carcinoma. Our experts will present the latest data from the JAVELIN Bladder 100, EV-103, and FORT-2 trials.