FDA Grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation to Erdafitinib for the Treatment of Metastatic Urothelial Cancer
On March 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to erdafitinib for the treatment of urothelial cancer.
Urothelial cancer, most frequently in the bladder, is the sixth most common type of cancer in the United States. A Breakthrough Therapy designation is granted to expedite the development and regulatory review of an investigational medicine that is intended to treat a serious or life-threatening condition. The criteria for Breakthrough Therapy designation require preliminary clinical evidence that demonstrates the drug may have substantial improvement on at least one clinically significant endpoint over available therapy.
“For patients diagnosed with urothelial cancer, outcomes are unfortunately disheartening due to the aggressiveness of the disease,” said Peter Lebowitz, MD, PhD, Global Therapeutic Area Head, Oncology, Janssen Research & Development, LLC. “Through the continued development of erdafitinib, and working closely with the FDA, we look forward to bringing a potential new treatment option to patients.”
The Breakthrough Therapy designation is based on data from a multicenter, open-label phase II clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of erdafitinib in the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer, whose tumors have certain fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) genetic alterations. The study (BLC2001), presented by Loriot et al (Abstract 411) at the 2018 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, showed an overall response rate of 42% in 59 patients with relapsed or refractory metastatic urothelial cancer whose tumors harbored actionable FGFR mutations.
The content in this post has not been reviewed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®) and does not necessarily reflect the ideas and opinions of ASCO®.
