Arlene O. Siefker-Radtke, MD, on Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma: New Data on Erdafitinib vs Chemotherapy From the THOR Study
2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Arlene O. Siefker-Radtke, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses phase III findings showing that for patients with advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma and FGFR alteration who already had been treated with a PD-(L)1 inhibitor, erdafitinib significantly improved overall and progression-free survival, as well as overall response rate, compared with investigator’s choice of chemotherapy (LBA4619).
Transcript
Disclaimer: This video transcript has not been proofread or edited and may contain errors.
Arlene O. Siefker-Radtke:
We now have results from the THOR clinical trial studying erdafitinib in patients who have metastatic surgically unresectable urothelial carcinoma, who've received prior therapy for their tumor. This is the first clinical trial, showing proof of concept benefit from FGF targeted therapy, compared to what's been observed with chemotherapy.
The design of the trial takes patients who've had prior treatment, typically chemotherapy with platinum or carboplatinum, and patients may have had an immune checkpoint inhibitor. There are two cohorts to this trial. The cohort being presented is the group of patients who've had a prior immune checkpoint inhibitor. Patients were randomized between either erdafitinib alone or single agent taxane, or vinflunine, which is approved in Europe. And the results of the trial looked quite good indeed, with it hitting on all three endpoints.
The primary endpoint of the trial was median overall survival, and erdafitinib came in with a statistically significant improvement in overall survival with a median overall survival of 12 months compared to single agent chemotherapy, which was around 7.8 months. We also saw evidence of benefit in progression-free survival and overall survival. The progression-free survival with erdafitinib was around five and a half months. Single agent chemotherapy was half that amount, and the objective response rate for erdafitinib was around 45%, so that's 45% PRs and CRs, while single agent chemotherapy had a response rate of around 11%.
The toxicity reported is similar to what has been observed with other clinical trials of FGF targeted therapy, and as a result of this work, erdafitinib is here to stay as part of the standard armamentarium for the treatment of our urothelial cancer patients.
The ASCO Post Staff
Enrique Grande, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses new findings that show initial responses to induction therapy with atezolizumab plus platinum and gemcitabine did not seem to impact overall survival for patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma. Cisplatin-treated patients appeared to derive a greater benefit with atezolizumab than did carboplatin-treated patients (Abstract 4503).
The ASCO Post Staff
Amer Methqal Zeidan, MBBS, MHS, of Yale University and Yale Cancer Center, discusses phase III findings on the first-in-class telomerase inhibitor imetelstat, which was given to patients with heavily transfusion-dependent non-del(5q) lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes that are resistant to erythropoiesis-stimulating agents. Imetelstat resulted in a significant and sustained red blood cell (RBC) transfusion independence in 40% of these heavily transfused patients. The response was also durable and accompanied by an impressive median hemoglobin rise of 3.6 g/dL, and seen in patients with and without ring sideroblasts. Importantly, reduced variant allele frequency was observed in the most commonly mutated myeloid genes which correlated with duration of transfusion independence and hemoglobin rise, therefore suggesting a disease-modifying potential of this agent (Abstract 7004).
The ASCO Post Staff
Clifford A. Hudis, MD, ASCO Chief Executive Officer, talks about extending the reach and impact of ASCO by partnering with patients who play a key role in advancing science through clinical trial participation. With near-record numbers of registered attendees, the 2023 Annual Meeting fostered new connections and plans for collaborations.
The ASCO Post Staff
Christian Pfister, MD, PhD, of Rouen University Hospital, discusses phase III results from the VESPER trial, which showed that dose-dense methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin, and cisplatin provided a better overall survival rate at 5 years and improved disease-specific survival compared with gemcitabine as perioperative chemotherapy in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (Abstract LBA4507).
The ASCO Post Staff
Bobbie J. Rimel, MD, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Kathleen N. Moore, MD, of the Stephenson Oklahoma Cancer Center at the University of Oklahoma, discuss phase III results from the MIRASOL trial, which showed that mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx prolonged overall survival vs investigator’s choice chemotherapy in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer with high folate receptor-alpha expression. The findings suggest a new standard of care for this disease (Abstract LBA5507).