Big Pharma's Practice-Changing Data Dominates At ESMO

Unseasonal showers hit Madrid during the European Society for Medical Oncology congress where most of the major data readouts came from the biggest players in the sector rather than ambitious biotechs. Here, In Vivo looks at three must-see presentations from the prestigious meeting.  

Cancer cell

It is always a good sign when your presentation is interrupted by a standing ovation. This was the fate of Tom Powles, director of Barts Cancer Centre in London, at an ESMO presidential symposium where he gave the detailed results of the Phase III EV-302/KEYNOTE-A39 trial looking at the combination of Seagen Inc. and Astellas Pharma, Inc.'s antibody-drug conjugate Padcev (enfortumab vedotin) and Merck & Co., Inc.'s checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab), as front-line therapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC), which covers almost all bladder cancers.

The combo was the first regimen containing an ADC and an anti-PD-1/L1 agent to gain a US green light in...

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