Immunotherapy Drug Avelumab Improves Survival in Advanced Bladder Cancer Patients

An immune drug avelumab has resulted in a survival advantage in bladder cancer, and will potentially benefit thousands of patients each year, said new study.

In patients with the most common type of bladder cancer, an immunotherapy drug called 'avelumab' has been shown to improve survival significantly, revealed results from a phase III clinical trial led by Queen Mary University of London and Barts //Cancer Centre, UK. The findings of the study are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The clinical trial focused on patients whose cancer had spread beyond the bladder (advanced or stage 4 disease), challenging to treat and resulting in more than 200,000 deaths each year worldwide.

Bladder Cancer – Symptoms, Signs, Diagnosis, Treatment, Prognosis & Prevention
Bladder cancer occurs due to abnormal cell growth in the urinary bladder. The most common kind usually is urothelial cancer or transitional cell carcinoma.

‘An immune drug avelumab has resulted in a survival advantage in bladder cancer, and will potentially benefit thousands of patients each year. ’

Clinical Trial Study

JAVELIN Bladder 100, the phase III global trial funded by Pfizer and Merck KGaA Darmstadt, Germany, evaluated the efficacy of the immunotherapy therapy in bladder cancer patients whose disease has not shown any progression after chemotherapy.

From over 200 sites around the world, a total of 700 patients were then assigned to 2 treatment groups after chemotherapy completion, the first group received standard care on its own, and the second group received immunotherapy drug avelumab and standard care.

Combination Biomarker Benefits Patients With Advanced Bladder Cancer
In patients with metastatic bladder cancer, a novel combination of biomarkers from baseline tumor tissues was predictive of improved clinical responses and prolonged survival following treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Avelumab was linked to 31 percent reduction in risk of death of bladder cancer and extended median survival in advanced bladder cancer by more than seven months. 11% of patients stopped the intake of the immunotherapy medication due to treatment problems.

Study lead Thomas Powles, Professor of Genitourinary Oncology at Queen Mary University of London, and Director of Barts Cancer Centre, Barts Health NHS Trust, said: "This is the first time that an immunotherapy clinical trial has shown a survival benefit for first-line therapy in metastatic bladder cancer.

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"We saw a meaningful reduction in the risk of death and a significant overall survival benefit with avelumab, which underscores the potential for this immunotherapy to be practice-changing for patients. This highlights the potential benefits of a maintenance approach with avelumab in patients to prolong their lives following chemotherapy."

Bladder cancer

81,400 new cases of bladder cancer
17,980 deaths from bladder cancer
9 out of 10 people with this cancer are over the age of 55

Avelumab

Avelumab
Avelumab is a programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) blocking antibody which is prescribed to treat adult and pediatric patients of 12 years and older who suffer from advanced Merkel-cell carcinoma that has spread to other parts of the body. Merkel-cell carcinoma is a rare but highly aggressive form of skin cancer caused by the Merkel cell polyomavirus.

Avelumab is also used to treat urothelial cancer (cancer that occurs in the bladder, ureter, and urethra) in patients whose cancer was worsened during chemotherapy or within 12 months of chemotherapy given with surgery. It received orphan drug designation in January 2017 by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for treating stomach cancer.

Avelumab acts either by slowing down the growth of cancer cells or stops the further development of cancer.

The drug is used to treat urothelial cancer (cancer that occurs in the bladder. It acts either by slowing down the growth of cancer cells or stops the further development of cancer.

Source-Medindia