According to phase III clinical trial by initiated by the researchers of Queen Mary University of London and Barts Cancer Centre, UK have reported that immunotherapy drug called 'avelumab' has exhibited its potential in enhancing survival rate in patients with advanced bladder cancer. Researchers also reported that avelumab lessened risk of death of bladder cancer by 31% and prolonged median survival in advanced bladder cancer by over 7 months. According to several sources, it is evident that around 550,000 new cases of bladder cancer are diagnosed each year and is ranked as 10th most common cancer, across the globe. Moreover, researchers informed that this clinical trial focused on the patients with advanced cancer or at stage 4.
In this trial, 700 patients from over 200 different regions, across the globe were taken into consideration, who were further divided into two treatment groups after the completion of chemotherapy. One group received standard care and the second group received avelumab along with standard care. Researchers observed that group receiving standard treatment with avelumab exhibited 31% drop in the risk of death and survival was more by 7 months, in comparison to patients, who did not receive the drug.
Thomas Powles, Study lead stated, “This is the first time that an immune therapy clinical trial has shown a survival benefit for first-line therapy in metastatic bladder cancer. We saw a meaningful reduction in the risk of death and a significant overall survival benefit with avelumab, which underscores the potential for this immunotherapy to be practice-changing for patients. This highlights the potential benefits of a maintenance approach with avelumab in patients to prolong their lives following chemotherapy.â€
Avelumab can be defined as a type of immunotherapy, also known as checkpoint inhibitor that obstructs protein PD-L1 on the surface of cancer cells. When PD-L1 is blocked, the immune system easily finds it and destroys.