Groundbreaking cancer treatment pioneered with a little help from Macquarie Park innovation district

Dr Alison Zhang is a medical oncologist with MQ Health Cancer Services

Macquarie Park’s health sciences cluster has supported the development of a promising new immunotherapy treatment for urothelial cancer patients, via an international clinical trial.

Urothelial carcinoma is the term for a group of aggressive cancers affecting the bladder and parts of the urothelial tract. Bladder cancer is the most common of these, with more than 573,000 diagnoses worldwide every year - including 3,100 people here in Australia.

The revolutionary new therapy combines two drugs - Emfortumab Veotin (VC) and Pembrolizumab - and has been found to nearly double the life expectancy of patients.

These findings are from an international clinical trial which involved 886 patients around the world. Macquarie University Hospital was the only NSW test site, and one of just six in Australia. Nine patients at Macquarie University Hospital participated in the study.

The new therapy was developed by cancer biotech specialists Seagen Inc., alongside Astellas Pharma Global Development Inc. and Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC who both have bases in Macquarie Park innovation district.

Compared with chemotherapy, the EV-pembrolizumab drug combination was found to double the progression-free time from 6.3 months to 12.5 months. The median overall survival time also increased from 16.1 months to 31.5 months.

Additionally, 68% of patients experienced shrinkage of their cancer with the dual treatment compared to 44% of chemo patients, and 29.1% of new therapy patients experienced a complete response compared with 12.5% of chemotherapy patients.

“The results support it becoming the new standard of care for urothelial cancer”, says Dr Alison Zhang, a medical oncologist with MQ Health Cancer Services.

“This represents a major milestone in treatment, with the potential to revolutionise patient care”

“Until now, the most effective treatment available has been chemotherapy, with a combination of the drugs cisplatin and gemcitabine, but even with treatment, the survival rate is poor.”.

While a complete response is not always synonymous with cure, this therapy could still mean a long-term remission for many patients, representing the first significant change in urothelial and bladder cancer treatment for 30 years.