JCO
Initial results from the phase III JAVELIN Bladder 100 trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02603432) showed that avelumab first-line (1L) maintenance plus best supportive care (BSC) ...significantly prolonged overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) versus BSC alone in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma (aUC) who were progression-free after 1L platinum-containing chemotherapy. Avelumab 1L maintenance treatment is now a standard of care for aUC. Here, we report updated data with ≥ 2 years of follow-up in all patients, including OS (primary end point), PFS, safety, and additional novel analyses. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive avelumab plus BSC (n = 350) or BSC alone (n = 350). At data cutoff (June 4, 2021), median follow-up was 38.0 months and 39.6 months, respectively; 67 patients (19.5%) had received ≥2 years of avelumab treatment. OS remained longer with avelumab plus BSC versus BSC alone in all patients (hazard ratio, 0.76 95% CI, 0.63 to 0.91; 2-sided
= .0036). Investigator-assessed PFS analyses also favored avelumab. Longer-term safety was consistent with previous analyses; no new safety signals were identified with longer treatment duration. In conclusion, longer-term follow-up continues to show clinically meaningful efficacy benefits with avelumab 1L maintenance plus BSC versus BSC alone in patients with aUC. An interactive visualization of data reported in this article is available.
In the JAVELIN Bladder 100 phase 3 trial of avelumab first-line maintenance + best supportive care (BSC) versus BSC alone in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma, analyses of overall survival ...and progression-free survival in various clinical subgroups were consistent with results for the overall population.
In the phase 3 JAVELIN Bladder 100 trial, avelumab first-line (1L) maintenance + best supportive care (BSC) significantly prolonged overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) versus BSC alone in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma (aUC) who were progression-free following 1L platinum-based chemotherapy, leading to regulatory approval in various countries.
To analyze clinically relevant subgroups from JAVELIN Bladder 100.
Patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic UC without progression on 1L gemcitabine + cisplatin or carboplatin were randomized to receive avelumab + BSC (n = 350) or BSC alone (n = 350). Median follow-up was >19 mo in both arms (data cutoff October 21, 2019). This trial is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT02603432.
OS (primary endpoint) and PFS were analyzed in protocol-specified and post hoc subgroups using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards models.
Hazard ratios (HRs) for OS with avelumab + BSC versus BSC alone were <1.0 across all subgroups examined, including patients treated with 1L cisplatin + gemcitabine (HR 0.69, 95% confidence interval CI 0.50–0.93) or carboplatin + gemcitabine (HR 0.64, 95% CI 0.46–0.90), patients with PD-L1+ tumors treated with carboplatin + gemcitabine (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.39–1.14), and patients whose best response to chemotherapy was a complete response (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.46–1.37), partial response (HR 0.62, 95% CI 0.46–0.84), or stable disease (HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.46–1.06). Observations were similar for PFS. Limitations include the smaller size and post hoc evaluation without multiplicity adjustment for some subgroups.
Analyses of OS and PFS in clinically relevant subgroups were consistent with results for the overall population, further supporting avelumab 1L maintenance as standard-of-care treatment for patients with aUC who are progression-free following 1L platinum-based chemotherapy.
In the JAVELIN Bladder 100 study, maintenance treatment with avelumab helped many different groups of people with advanced cancer of the urinary tract to live longer.
In JAVELIN Bladder 100, results from analyses of overall survival and progression-free survival with avelumab first-line maintenance + best supportive care (BSC) versus BSC alone in advanced ...urothelial carcinoma across subgroups defined by the duration of chemotherapy or interval before maintenance were consistent with the overall population results.
In the JAVELIN Bladder 100 phase 3 trial, avelumab first-line maintenance + best supportive care (BSC) prolonged overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) versus BSC alone in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma (advanced UC) without progression after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy.
To report post hoc analyses of subgroups defined by the duration of first-line chemotherapy and interval before maintenance.
Patients with advanced UC without progression after four to six cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy and a 4–10-wk interval after chemotherapy (n = 700) were randomized to receive avelumab + BSC or BSC alone. Subgroups were defined by duration (quartile Q) and estimated number of cycles of chemotherapy, and interval between chemotherapy and maintenance. The median follow-up was >19 mo in both arms.
OS (primary endpoint), PFS, and safety were assessed.
Hazard ratios (95% confidence interval) for OS with avelumab + BSC versus BSC alone were as follows: by chemotherapy duration—<Q1: 0.65 (0.42–1.02), Q1–Q2: 0.79 (0.50–1.27), Q2–Q3: 0.74 (0.50–1.10), and >Q3: 0.63 (0.39–1.00); by number of cycles—four cycles: 0.69 (0.48–1.00), five cycles: 0.98 (0.57–1.71), and six cycles: 0.66 (0.47–0.92); and by interval—4–<6 wk: 0.75 (0.54–1.04), 6–<8 wk: 0.67 (0.43–1.06), and 8–10 wk: 0.69 (0.47–1.02). Results were similar for PFS. Safety was similar across subgroups. All analyses were exploratory.
Post hoc analyses of OS and PFS in subgroups defined by first-line chemotherapy duration and interval before maintenance were generally consistent with the results in the overall population, with similar safety findings. Prospective trials are warranted to confirm these findings.
Avelumab maintenance treatment helped patients with advanced urothelial cancer without disease progression after at least four cycles of prior chemotherapy, and who started maintenance treatment at least 4 wk after chemotherapy, to live longer.
To optimize non-operative management and decision making surrounding TKR we created educational whiteboard videos for patients with knee OA. The purpose of this study was to pilot our educational ...videos with end-users (patients) to determine patients' experiences and perspectives regarding the content and clarity of videos and to better understand their potential impact on patient's health behaviour.
This was a mixed methods evaluation, using a qualitative descriptive approach, of patients attending their first consultation with an arthroplasty surgeon for TKR. We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with patients. Three members of the research team coded data independently, implementing a thematic analysis.
Thirteen participants were included. Participants indicated that the videos enhanced their confidence and clarity surrounding their decision to undergo TKR. The videos also addressed several knowledge gaps in their understanding of OA management. Barriers to uptake of the education were identified including limited access to PTs and the challenge of weight loss. Conclusions: The current educational intervention was valued by patients with knee OA. Implementation of these videos may have important implications for patients, providers, and our health care system.
IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION
Patients with knee OA referred by primary care physicians to arthroplasty surgeons have knowledge gaps that may influence their self-management and decision making surrounding their condition.
Educational materials can address these gaps and support patients in their understanding and management of their condition, which may have important downstream implications.
Barriers to accessing non-operative care including physiotherapy must be pre-emptively addressed to ensure that enhanced knowledge is met with improved access for patients.
To support primary care physicians (PCPs) and their patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), we created a series of evidence-based whiteboard educational videos for patients with knee OA. In a ...previous study we piloted these videos with patients to understand their acceptability and impact. The purpose of this study was to explore PCPs' perspectives to understand the utility of novel patient education videos to support management.
We conducted a qualitative descriptive study using semi-structured interviews of newly practicing and resident PCPs after watching a series of patient education videos. A thematic analysis approach was used combining both inductive and research question driven coding, category formation, and theme identification.
Ten participants were included. Barriers to optimal management were identified including the challenge of patient adherence and access to non-operative treatments. PCPs indicated that the videos would support their management of patients with knee OA by (1) supporting credibility and building trust with their patient, (2) reinforcing patient understanding, and (3) enhancing their own management of patients.
Future implementation of these resources with attention to barriers that may limit uptake is necessary and may optimize management of knee OA in primary care.
IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION
The provision of patient educational materials may support patient buy-in regarding appropriate management, enhance patient understanding, and improve physicians' future practice.
Viewing these videos could potentially improve physicians' future resource use, recommendation of non-operative treatments, and the quality of their total knee replacement referrals, which has benefits to both the patient and the healthcare system.
Perceived barriers to implementing evidence-based recommendations may pose a challenge for patients and clinicians and should be considered to help facilitate the uptake of educational interventions.
This is a plain language summary of an article originally published in
. It is about initial results (collected in October 2019) from the JAVELIN Bladder 100 study (a clinical trial), which looked at ...avelumab maintenance treatment in people with advanced urothelial cancer. Urothelial cancer is the most common type of bladder cancer. People with advanced urothelial cancer often receive chemotherapy. If this is the first treatment people with advanced disease are given, it is called first-line treatment. If the cancer stops growing or shrinks with first-line chemotherapy, people can be given different treatment to try to prevent the cancer from growing again. This is called maintenance treatment. It may help people live longer.
In the JAVELIN Bladder 100 study, researchers wanted to find out if maintenance treatment with avelumab would help people with advanced urothelial cancer live longer. Avelumab is a type of medicine called immunotherapy. Immunotherapy helps the body's immune system fight cancer. 700 people took part in the study. To take part, they must have already been treated with first-line chemotherapy. Also, their cancer must have shrunk or not grown with this treatment. They were then treated with either avelumab maintenance treatment plus best supportive care or best supportive care alone. Best supportive care means treatments that help improve symptoms and quality of life. These treatments do not affect the cancer directly and can include medicines to relieve pain.
Researchers found that people treated with avelumab maintenance treatment plus best supportive care lived, on average, 7 months longer than people who received best supportive care alone. People treated with avelumab had more side effects than those not treated with avelumab, but most were not severe. Common side effects with avelumab included persistent tiredness, itchy skin, urinary tract infection, and diarrhea.
Results from the JAVELIN Bladder 100 study support the use of avelumab as maintenance treatment for people with advanced urothelial cancer whose cancer has shrunk or not grown with first-line chemotherapy.
NCT02603432.
Host restriction factors play key roles in innate antiviral defense, but it remains poorly understood which of them restricts HIV-1 in vivo. Here, we used single-cell transcriptomic analysis to ...identify host factors associated with HIV-1 control during acute infection by correlating host gene expression with viral RNA abundance within individual cells. Wide sequencing of cells from one participant with the highest plasma viral load revealed that intracellular viral RNA transcription correlates inversely with expression of the gene
, which encodes prothymosin α. This association was genome-wide significant (
< 0.05) and was validated in 28 additional participants from Thailand and the Americas with HIV-1 CRF01_AE and subtype B infections, respectively. Overexpression of prothymosin α in vitro confirmed that this cellular factor inhibits HIV-1 transcription and infectious virus production. Our results identify prothymosin α as a host factor that restricts HIV-1 infection in vivo, which has implications for viral transmission and cure strategies.
Interleukin-12 (IL-12) increases Th
1 cytokines, natural killer (NK) cells, and cytotoxic T-cell activities. Progression of mycosis fungoides is associated with Th
2 cytokines produced by a clonal ...proliferation of epidermotropic T-helper cells.
To determine the safety and efficacy of subcutaneous recombinant human IL-12 (rhIL-12) in early mycosis fungoides (MF; stage IA-IIA) in a multi-center, open label clinical trial.
rhIL-12 was administered biweekly (100 ng/kg for 2 weeks; 300 ng/kg thereafter). A modified severity-weighted assessment tool (SWAT) and the longest diameter of 5 index lesions measured efficacy.
Twenty-three MF patients (stage IA, 12 patients; IB, 9; and IIA, 2) had previously received >3 therapies. Ten of 23 patients (43%) achieved partial responses (PR); 7 (30%) achieved minor responses; and 5 (22%) had stable disease. The duration of PRs ranged from 3 to more than 45 weeks. Twelve (52%) ultimately progressed with mean time to progressive disease of 57 days (range, 28-805). Ten completed 6 months of therapy; 1 completed 24 months. Of patients not completing 6 months of therapy, 6 progressed and 6 others discontinued because of adverse events or withdrew consent. Seventeen patients had treatment-related adverse events that were generally mild or moderate in severity, including asthenia, headache, chills, fever, injection site reaction, pain, myalgia, arthralgia, elevated aspartate and alanine aminotransferase levels, anorexia, and sweating. One patient in PR died of hemolytic anemia, possibly exacerbated by rhIL-12 treatment.
The original company was purchased during the conduct of the trial and rhIL-12 is currently unavailable. The quality of life data were not available for inclusion.
Twice-weekly subcutaneously administered rhIL-12 (100 ng/kg escalated to 300 ng/kg) showed antitumor activity with a response rate of 43% in refractory patients. It was relatively well-tolerated in early-stage MF.
Cancer vaccines have demonstrated clinical benefit, however greater efficacy could be achieved by enhancing their immunogenicity. Owing to cancer vaccines depending on uptake and cross-presentation ...of tumor antigens by antigen-presenting cells (APCs), we hypothesized that greater immunogenicity would accompany strategies that direct antigen to APC-expressed mannose receptors, initiating a pathway increasing class I and II presentation to T cells. CDX-1307 consists of a human monoclonal antibody targeting the mannose receptor, fused to the human chorionic gonadotropin-β chain (hCG-β), a tumor antigen frequently expressed by epithelial cancers including bladder cancer. In Phase I studies of cancer patients, CDX-1307 was well tolerated and induced significant hCG-β-specific cellular and humoral immune responses when co-administered with GM-CSF and the Toll-like receptor agonists resiquimod and poly-ICLC. An ongoing Phase II trial evaluates CDX-1307 in patients with newly diagnosed, resectable, hCG-β-expressing bladder cancer, where low tumor burden and early intervention may provide greater potential for benefit.
Introduction: Despite recent advances in the diagnosis and management of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), treatment of essential thrombocythemia (ET) has remained largely unchanged since the ...introduction of anagrelide in the US during 1997. Anagrelide is indicated for the treatment of thrombocythemia, to reduce the elevated platelet count and risk of thrombosis, and to ameliorate symptoms including thrombohemorrhagic events. The primary pharmacological effect of anagrelide is inhibition of megakaryocyte hypermaturation leading to reduced platelet production. Anagrelide also inhibits cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase III (PDE3), and common drug related adverse events (AEs; e.g., headache, palpitations, fluid retention, nausea and diarrhea) are believed to be due to this mechanism. Although initiating treatment at low doses and slowly increasing the dose to reach a target decreased platelet count may mitigate AEs, over 20% of patients still withdraw from treatment due to poor tolerability. As the currently marketed anagrelide product is an immediate release (IR) formulation with peak plasma concentrations (Cmax) that may exceed that needed for platelet reduction and cause unwanted PDE3 inhibition and AEs, an alternate formulation that modifies this pharmacokinetic (PK) profile may improve patient tolerability, adherence and treatment outcomes. This has led to the development and study of a controlled-release (CR) formulation of anagrelide (GALE-401).
Methods: 98 healthy adult subjects were enrolled among 5 Phase 1 clinical trials of anagrelide CR, including 12 placebo-control subjects and 86 subjects who received single or multiple doses ranging from 0.2 to 0.6 mg twice daily (b.i.d.) for up to 41 days. The trials included an open-label, single dose developmental study; two placebo-controlled multiple dose ranging studies; a food effect study; and a comparative crossover PK study vs. IR reference product. Safety parameters included routine laboratory, ECG, and clinical evaluations. PK was assessed by measurements of plasma anagrelide and its active metabolite using a validated HPLC-MS/MS method. Pharmacodynamic activity was assessed by daily platelet count determinations in the multiple dosing studies.
Results: Single doses of anagrelide CR were well tolerated, and the only drug-related AE reported in 2 or more subjects was headache. In the b.i.d. dose-ranging studies, the frequency and severity of AEs were similar between anagrelide CR and placebo groups, with the exception of decreased platelet counts in subjects receiving anagrelide CR. All AEs were transient, mild or moderate in severity, and no severe or serious AEs were reported.
Anagrelide CR demonstrated dose proportional PK characteristics. Following a single 0.5 mg dose in the fasted state, the mean time to maximum plasma concentration (Tmax) and terminal elimination half-life (t1/2) were 2.0±1.5 hrs and 10.4±9.3 hrs (mean ± SD), respectively; in contrast, Tmax and t1/2 following IR was 1.0±0.9 hrs and 1.4±0.2 hrs, respectively. Cmax and total plasma exposure (AUC0-inf) with anagrelide CR were reduced to 26% and 59% of IR, respectively. However, steady-state PK following 6 daily 0.5 mg b.i.d. doses of anagrelide CR or IR showed similar AUC0-inf values, while Cmax with anagrelide CR remained nearly unchanged (29%). Plasma exposure was higher when anagrelide CR was administered in the fed state, as demonstrated by the ratio of least-squares mean values for Cmax and AUC0-t, which were increased by 100% and 60%, respectively.
The platelet lowering effect of anagrelide CR was evident in the 2 multiple dose ranging studies. In a placebo-controlled study of 0.2 to 0.6 mg b.i.d. dosing for up to 21 days, a dose-related decrease in platelet counts was observed, and the 0.6 mg cohort was halted early due to excessive platelet reductions. Anagrelide CR did not have a relevant impact on platelet function as assessed by template bleeding time.
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Conclusion: Anagrelide CR is a promising, novel formulation of anagrelide that exhibited the desired PK profile of a significantly reduced Cmax, while maintaining plasma exposure to induce platelet count reductions. The product was well tolerated with an AE profile that was not distinguishable from placebo. These data support the importance of an ongoing Phase 2 study in patients with MPN-related thrombocytosis, including ET.
Laliberte:Galena Biopharma, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership. Glidden:Galena Biopharma, Inc.: Consultancy, Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties. Hamilton:Galena Biopharma, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership.
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