2023-10-26 09:03:25
New Studies Show Promise in Combining Immunotherapy with Chemotherapy for Bladder Cancer Treatment
Bladder cancer patients who can tolerate cisplatin chemotherapy may soon have a new treatment option. Recent phase 3 studies have investigated the effects of combining immunotherapy with chemotherapy or with the new drug enfortumab vedotin, and the results are proving to be highly promising.
Bladder cancer is a challenging disease to treat, and the standard treatment with cisplatin chemotherapy has shown limited results, with lasting effects being rare. However, these new studies have shown a significant increase in both overall survival and the time during which tumors remain under control when immunotherapy is combined with chemotherapy.
“These results mark a milestone in bladder cancer research and provide the first evidence of immunotherapy-containing combination treatments with a survival benefit,” says medical oncologist Michiel van der Heijden of the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, who is involved in both studies.
The first study, called CheckMate 901, included 608 patients and investigated a new combination of the drugs nivolumab and gemcitabine-cisplatin. The researchers compared this combination with treatment using chemotherapy alone. The results showed a 22% decrease in the risk of death when patients were treated with both drugs, compared to those who received chemotherapy alone. Additionally, the combination of nivolumab and chemotherapy led to a significant improvement in the time the tumor remained controlled and did not grow.
In the second study, named the EV302 Trial/Keynote-A39, 886 patients were involved. This study investigated the combination of immunotherapy with enfortumab vedotin + pembrolizumab, which specifically targets tumor cells while sparing healthy cells, unlike chemotherapy. The results of this study also showed important improvements in overall survival and the time during which the tumor did not grow.
While the findings of these studies are promising, it’s important to note that both treatments have not yet been registered and approved in the Netherlands for reimbursement by health insurance. This means that they will not be immediately available to patients. However, the successful outcomes of these studies provide hope for bladder cancer patients and suggest that combining immunotherapy with chemotherapy or enfortumab vedotin could be a highly effective treatment option in the future.]
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