Dr. Sonpavde on the Role of Durvalumab in Platinum-Refractory Bladder Cancer

Guru Sonpavde, MD, director of Bladder Cancer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the role of durvalumab (Imfinzi) in the treatment of patients with metastatic platinum-refractory bladder cancer.

There are currently 5 checkpoint inhibitors that are FDA approved for patients who progress on platinum-based chemotherapy, but only pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has level 1 data to support its use. Durvalumab, a PD-L1 inhibitor, is among the other 4. This agent is comparable with the other 4 agents in terms of activity, although it is difficult to make cross-trial comparisons, Sonpavde says. Durvalumab was FDA approved based on a large non-randomized phase II trial showing that the drug induced durable responses that were comparable to those with other checkpoint inhibitors.

The toxicity profile is also on par with the other checkpoint inhibitors, with 10% to 15% of patients demonstrating grade ≥3 adverse events. Sonpavde concludes that durvalumab is a valuable agent in the post-platinum setting and represents another option for patients with metastatic disease.