Urology Times roundup: obesity paradox, PSMA education, and novel bladder cancer combo

Here are some news items in the urology field you may have missed this week.

Weight-based dosing with immunotherapy in high-BMI patients key in kidney cancer

Findings published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer showed that patients with a high body mass index (BMI) can live significantly longer than lighter patients when immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) dosing is weight-based, not fixed.¹

The study included almost 300 patients with kidney, lung, and head and neck cancer, as well as melanoma. In the overall population, there was a trend toward improved overall survival (OS) among overweight patients (BMI ≥25) receiving ICI therapy (HR, 0.77; P = .08); however, this OS benefit was limited entirely to patients receiving weight-based dosing. The HR for OS was 0.56 (P = .03) in the weight-based dosing group versus 0.89 (P = .54) in the fixed-dosing group.

“Even when we accounted for differences in tumor and treatment types, overweight patients lived twice as long as smaller patients if they received weight-based dosing. However, there was no difference if they received fixed-dose immunotherapy,” senior author David Gerber, MD, professor of internal medicine within the division of hematology and oncology at UT Southwestern, and associate director of clinical research in the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center stated in a press release. Access study here

Partnership launches radiopharmaceutical research education platform

A partnership of the medical imaging journal Applied Radiology and the pharmaceutical company Telix has launched a radiopharmaceutical research educational platform called TelixU.²

The website is specifically designed to educate healthcare professionals on the rapidly emerging next-generation imaging technique PSMA PET/CT, with a focus on gallium-68

(68Ga) radiopharmaceuticals.

“Applied Radiology is delighted to support Telix in this endeavor,” Kieran Anderson, vice president and group publisher at Anderson Publishing Ltd., publishers of Applied Radiology and Applied Radiation Oncology, stated in a press release. “We have a long history of working closely with key opinion leaders and industry. We develop high-quality, informative, and engaging content, and TelixU is the latest example, as it builds on our continued commitment to the medical imaging community.”

Study launched of neoadjuvant tislelizumab plus APL-1202 in MIBC

The FDA has approved the launch of a phase 1/2 study exploring the combination of the MetAP2 inhibitor APL-1202 and the PD-1 inhibitor tislelizumab in the neoadjuvant setting for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC).³

The goals of the multicenter, open-label trial will be to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the combination and to determine the recommended phase 2 dose.

"We are very pleased that FDA approved the IND application for oral APL-1202 in combination with tislelizumab as a neoadjuvant therapy in MIBC patients," Xue Yong, MD, PhD, chief medical officer at Asieris, the developer of APL-1202, stated in a press release. "The approval is expected to accelerate the clinical development, and Asieris will continue to explore cutting-edge technologies and therapeutics in our focused areas to meet the urgent medical needs and establish an outstanding portfolio that covers diagnosis and treatment to benefit more patients."

References

1. Study finds dosing strategy may affect immunotherapy outcomes. Published online June 14, 2021. Accessed June 18, 2021. https://bit.ly/3cPCJNm.

2. Telix Pharmaceuticals and Applied Radiology launch TelixU Medical Education Platform Focused on Radiopharmaceutical Research. Published online June 14, 2021. Accessed June 18, 2021. https://bit.ly/35AHrdW.

3. The U.S. FDA Approved IND Application to Investigate Combination of Asieris' APL-1202 and BeiGene's Tislelizumab as Neoadjuvant Therapy for MIBC Patients. Published online June 14, 2021. Accessed June 18, 2021. https://prn.to/3vxZEU4.