Bempegaldesleukin plus Nivolumab in First-line Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma: Results from PIVOT-02

Background: Despite recent changes in the treatment landscape, there remains an unmet need for effective, tolerable, chemotherapy-free treatments for patients with advanced/metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC), especially cisplatin-ineligible patients. Objective: To evaluate the immunostimulatory interleukin-2 cytokine prodrug bempe-galdesleukin (BEMPEG) plus nivolumab in patients with advanced/mUC from the phase 2 multicenter PIVOT-02 study. Design, setting, and participants: This open-label, multicohort phase 1/2 study enrolled patients with previously untreated locally advanced/surgically unresectable or mUC (N = 41). Intervention: Patients received BEMPEG 0.006 mg/kg plus nivolumab 360 mg intra-venously every 3 wk. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: The primary objectives were safety and the objective response rate (ORR) in patients with measurable disease at baseline and at least one postbaseline tumor response assessment (response-evaluable). Secondary objectives were overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Exploratory biomarker analyses via univariate logistic regression were performed to test the association between potential biomarkers (CD8(+) tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, tumor muta-tional burden, and IFN-c gene expression profile) and response. Results and limitations: The ORR was 35% (13/37 evaluable patients) and the complete response rate was 19% (7/37 patients); the median duration of response was not reached. Median PFS was 4.1 mo (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.1-8.7) and median OS was 23.7 mo (95% CI 15.8-not reached). Overall, 40/41 patients (98%) experienced at least one treatment-related adverse event (TRAE); grade 3/4 TRAEs occurred in 11 patients (27%), most commonly pyrexia (4.9%; 2 patients). Exploratory biomarker analyses showed no association between biomarkers and response. Limitations include the small sample size and single-arm design. Conclusions: BEMPEG plus nivolumab was well tolerated and showed antitumor activity as first-line treatment in patients with locally advanced/mUC. Patient summary: We investigated an immune-stimulating prodrug called bempe-galdesleukin plus the antibody nivolumab as the first therapy for patients with advanced or metastatic cancer of the urinary tract. This combination had manageable treatment -related side effects and was effective in a subset of patients. (c) 2022 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study evaluated the effectiveness of the immunostimulatory cytokine prodrug BEMPEG plus nivolumab as a first-line treatment for advanced/metastatic urothelial carcinoma patients, showing that the combination was well-tolerated and demonstrated good antitumor activity.