Urothelial Carcinoma Trials Get Standing Ovation

Trials reported at the 2023 ESMO Congress showed significant improvements in median overall survival (OS)—for the first time ever—in patients newly diagnosed with advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who received combination therapies instead of standard chemotherapy. In one trial, median OS nearly doubled in patients who received the antibody–drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin combined with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab compared with those who received standard chemotherapy—31.5 months versus 16.1 months. In a second trial, the combination of the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab and standard chemotherapy bested standard chemotherapy alone.