Adding nivolumab to perioperative chemo shows no significant benefit in muscle invasive bladder cancer

Prof Andrea Necchi speaks to ecancer about the final analysis of the phase III CA017-078 trial, which compared neoadjuvant gemcitabine and cisplatin alone with neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy followed by surgery and adjuvant nivolumab in patients with resectable muscle invasive bladder cancer.

After a median follow-up of 54.5 months, the addition of perioperative nivolumab did not significantly improve event-free survival or pathological complete response rates compared with chemotherapy alone.

Prof Necchi says that grade 3 or higher treatment-related adverse events occurred in 45.9% of patients receiving the nivolumab combination and 49.5% receiving chemotherapy alone.

He highlights that there results prove the need for further research to identify patients who may benefit from perioperative immunotherapy.