Dr. Barata on the Role of Maintenance Avelumab in Advanced Urothelial Cancer

Pedro C. Barata, MD, MSc, associate professor of Medicine, Hematology, Medical Oncology, the Tulane University School of Medicine, discusses the role of maintenance avelumab (Bavencio) in advanced urothelial cancer.

The phase 3 JAVELIN Bladder 100 trial (NCT02603432) compared maintenance treatment with avelumab plus best supportive care (BSC) vs BSC alone in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who had not progressed following first-line, platinum-based chemotherapy.

Data from the JAVELIN Bladder 100 trial established avelumab as standard-of-care maintenance therapy for patients who completed multiple rounds of chemotherapy without progression, Barata explains. Maintenance avelumab has been shown to provide a benefit regardless of the type of platinum-based chemotherapy given to patients in the first line, such as gemcitabine with cisplatin, or carboplatin and gemcitabine, Barata says.

Avelumab is the first checkpoint inhibitor that has shown a survival advantage in the frontline setting for locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer, Barata concludes.