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NEW YORK & TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE:4503, President and CEO: Naoki Okamura, "Astellas")today announced that on December 15, 2023 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved PADCEV^® (enfortumab vedotin-ejfv, an antibody-drug conjugate [ADC]) with KEYTRUDA^® (pembrolizumab, a PD-1 inhibitor) for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer (la/mUC). This combination is the first approved to offer an alternative to platinum-containing chemotherapy, the current standard of care in first-line la/mUC.

The approval is based on results from the Phase 3 EV-302 clinical trial (also known as KEYNOTE-A39), which demonstrated the combination nearly doubled median overall survival (OS) and median progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with previously untreated la/mUC compared to platinum-containing chemotherapy. Findings from EV-302 were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023. EV-302 also serves as the confirmatory trial for the U.S. accelerated approval of this combination for adult patients with la/mUC who are not eligible to receive cisplatin-containing chemotherapy (approved in April 2023) and expands the labeled indication to include patients who are eligible to receive cisplatin chemotherapy. EV-302 is also serving as the basis for global submissions.

Roger Dansey, M.D., Chief Development Officer, Oncology, Pfizer

“In the Phase 3 EV-302 study, the combination of PADCEV and pembrolizumab demonstrated survival benefit for patients with advanced bladder cancer, nearly doubling median OS and median PFS compared with chemotherapy. We hope the approval of this combination will transform the standard of care for advanced bladder cancer and give patients more time with their loved ones.”