Clinical trials report mixed results for lung and bladder cancer treatments

AstraZeneca has halted its Phase III eVOLVE-Lung02 clinical trial evaluating volrustomig combined with chemotherapy for patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. An independent monitoring committee determined that the experimental combination, which targets PD-1 and CTLA-4, was unlikely to significantly improve progression-free or overall survival compared to pembrolizumab and chemotherapy, particularly in patients with low PD-L1 expression.

In a separate development in oncology, results from the Phase III Kyenote-B15 international study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, suggest a new treatment paradigm for muscle-invasive bladder cancer. The study compared standard cisplatin-based chemotherapy and surgery against a combination of pembrolizumab and enfortumab vedotina. The new strategy showed significant improvements in overall survival and complete pathological response, with approximately 80% of patients remaining event-free after two years, compared to 66% in the standard chemotherapy group.