Pfizer Presents New Cancer Research at ASCO GU Cancers Symposium

This week, from January 25-27^th, Pfizer will join the genitourinary oncology community at the 20^th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary (ASCO GU) Cancers Symposium. As the premier professional society of clinicians and scientists dedicated to confronting prostate and urinary diseases, ASCO GU has been featuring the latest high-impact science, multidisciplinary expertise, and evidence-based practices in GU cancer care for the past two decades.

A long-time presence at the Symposium, Pfizer is committed to advancing treatment for these diseases with cutting-edge scientific approaches that could improve outcomes for patients. With the recent acquisition of Seagen, Pfizer is making great investments to tackle – and reimagine the future of – cancer, and has expanded our portfolio to include seven medicines for patients with these types of cancers, including bladder and prostate.

This year, we are proud to present 13 abstracts highlighting research from our leading portfolio, including new data and analyses in prostate cancer and bladder cancer.  

Expanding prostate cancer therapies into earlier settings

In the U.S., approximately 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point during their lifetime.¹

There are many different types of prostate cancer, which are classified based on several factors. For example, men with prostate cancer are considered “castration-sensitive” if their disease still responds to medical or surgical treatment to lower testosterone levels. The disease is considered non-metastatic when there is no evidence of the cancer spreading to distant parts of the body by conventional radiological methods (CT/MRI).^2,3 As a result of advances in treatment and earlier treatment, outcomes for men with castration-sensitive prostate cancer (CSPC) have improved.⁴

At ASCO GU, Pfizer along with our partner Astellas, will present seven abstracts supporting the use of our androgen receptor signaling inhibitor in two types of prostate cancer: non-metastatic CSPC with high-risk biochemical recurrence for metastasis (nmCSPC with high-risk BCR) and metastatic CSPC. These include three analyses from the EMBARK trial, which add to the body of evidence supporting the benefit of our androgen receptor signaling inhibitor in men with nmCSPC with high-risk BCR. EMBARK is the first Phase 3 registrational study to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in metastasis-free survival using the combination of our androgen receptor signaling inhibitor plus a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analog therapy versus placebo plus a GnRH analog therapy in men with nmCSPC with high-risk BCR. Data from this trial supported the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for our therapy in this indication in November 2023.

Driving options in metastatic prostate cancer

Another type of prostate cancer is metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), an incurable stage of the disease in which the cancer has spread beyond the prostate gland and does not respond to hormonal therapy to lower testosterone.^2,3 Approximately 10%–20% of prostate cancer patients develop mCRPC within 5−7 years of diagnosis,⁵ and in the U.S., in 2020, approximately 60-90 thousand cases of the three million prostate cancer cases were mCRPC.⁶ Homologous recombination repair gene mutations (HRRm) are found in approximately 25% of tumors from men with mCRPC.^7,8

At ASCO GU, we are also sharing new data from additional cohorts and ongoing analyses from our Phase 3 TALAPRO-2 study. Data from this trial supported the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for our therapy in adult patients with HRR gene-mutated mCRPC in June 2023.

Presentations include findings on patient reported outcomes among patients previously treated with novel hormone therapies (NHTs), patient reported outcomes by HRRm gene clusters, exploratory analyses of HRR gene subgroups and potential associations with secondary efficacy endpoints in the HRR-deficient population, as well as a post hoc analysis of progression-free survival and overall survival endpoints.  

The prostate cancer data at ASCO GU 2024 add to the body of data on our two medicines and builds on our long-standing commitment to delivering the next scientific breakthroughs for men living with prostate cancer.  

About metastatic bladder cancer

Advanced bladder cancer, (also known as urothelial cancer (UC), is an aggressive and devastating disease, with an approximate 5-year survival rate of only 5% globally and estimated 5-year overall survival rates of 8.3% in the United States.⁹ And the incidence of UC is increasing, most notably in patients who are elderly.^10,11

There have been few advances in the treatment of advanced bladder cancer over the past decades, with platinum chemotherapy as the standard of care.

This year, Pfizer will be presenting new analyses of the groundbreaking EV-302 study at ASCO GU, examining outcomes from groups of patients with advanced bladder cancer, including those that have traditionally been hard to treat. It is our hope to transform the standard of care for advanced bladder cancer and give patients more time with their loved ones.

We look forward to sharing these collective findings at this week’s ASCO GU Symposium, as we continue our work to address the broad spectrum of patient needs across genitourinary cancers and diseases.