Clinical Overview of Enfortumab Vedotin in the Management of Locally Advanced or Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma

The treatment landscape for locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma has broadened significantly over recent years. New therapeutic options include immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapy with erdafitinib. Despite these advances, gaps remain in the selection and sequencing of optimal therapies. Treatment decisions are often influenced by several patient-specific factors such as tolerability and biomarker expression. Following progression while receiving front- and second-line therapies, there is no widely accepted standard of care for patients. Enrollment into a clinical trial is recommended in all lines of therapy for advanced disease. Antibody-drug conjugates have recently emerged as novel therapeutics allowing for targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic agents. Enfortumab vedotin, a nectin-4-targeted antibody conjugated with monomethyl auristatin E, is the first-in-class therapeutic option and has demonstrated unprecedented response rates following progression on chemotherapy and immunotherapy for advanced disease with a tolerable safety profile. As a result, a biologics license application was submitted to the US FDA in July 2019. Ongoing clinical trials are aiming to further establish the role of enfortumab vedotin in urothelial carcinoma. In this article, we highlight the safety and efficacy of enfortumab vedotin for patients with advanced bladder cancer, ongoing clinical trials, clinical pharmacology, and pharmacokinetics.