Monika Joshi, MD, MRCP, associate professor of medicine, Division of
Hematology-Oncology, and co-leader for Genitourinary Disease Team, at
Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, discusses the phase Ib/II results
of a trial looking at concurrent durvalumab and radiation therapy
followed by adjuvant durvalumab in patients with locally advanced
urothelial cancer of the bladder.
In this study, durvalumab was administered along with radiation therapy
for a 7-weeks-on/4-weeks-off schedule, Joshi says. After assessing for
response, investigators moved to the adjuvant phase and administered
durvalumab monthly to these patients for 1 year. Twenty-four patients
were evaluable for response, 17 of which achieved complete responses;
25% of patients achieved partial response or stable disease. This led to
a 95% disease control rate. However, these findings should be
interpreted cautiously as longer follow-up is needed, she added.
Regarding safety, fatigue and lymphopenia were reported adverse events
(AEs), and immune-related AEs were less common than expected on this
trial, Joshi explains. Overall, the treatment was well tolerated.