Turn on cookies to sign in
Signing in saves your progress to your Curie account. We can only do that with cookies on — turn them on to continue.
Prior checkpoint therapy flags pneumonitis risk in bladder cancer combo treatment. A new real-world study found that patients with advanced bladder cancer who had previously received immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) faced a significantly higher risk of developing pneumonitis when treated with enfortumab vedotin plus pembrolizumab. The findings suggest prior ICI exposure should be factored into treatment planning from the start.
Prior checkpoint therapy flags pneumonitis risk in bladder cancer combo treatment
A retrospective study of 315 patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (bladder cancer) found that prior exposure to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is the strongest independent predictor of pneumonitis — lung inflammation — in patients receiving enfortumab vedotin plus pembrolizumab (EVP), a first-line FDA-approved combination therapy. The association was especially pronounced for symptomatic, grade 2 or worse pneumonitis events.
Overall, 7% of patients developed pneumonitis, with nearly half experiencing severe (grade 3+) cases. The median time to onset was 77 days, and most affected patients required systemic corticosteroids. Patients who developed pneumonitis had a shorter median overall survival (608 vs. 712 days), though the difference was not statistically significant.
By the Numbers
Why it matters: These real-world findings complement clinical trial safety data and highlight a concrete, actionable risk factor — prior ICI use — that clinicians can assess before initiating EVP, potentially improving patient safety through better treatment sequencing.
