ESMO 2021 | Key clinical trials in urothelial carcinoma at ESMO 2021

Enrique Grande, MD, PhD, MD Anderson Cancer Center Madrid, Madrid, Spain, gives an overview of key clinical trials in the field of urothelial carcinoma (UC) presented at ESMO 2021. To begin with, the NORSE study (NCT03473743) demonstrated the superiority of FGFR inhibition with erdafitinib in combination with the PD-1 inhibitor cetrelimab over carboplatin/gemcitabine treatment in the frontline setting in patients with FGFR mutations. In addition, the VESPER (NCT01812369) study supported the use of dose-dense dense methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin and cisplatin (dd-MVAC) over gemcitabine-cisplatin therapy in patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer in the perioperative setting. Finally, early data from a Phase II trial (NCT02717156) reported promising efficacy results for the combination of sEphB4-HSA (B4) and pembrolizumab in patients with metastatic UC expressing EphrinB2, highlighting the potential role of EphrinB2 as a biomarker. This interview took place at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2021 congress.