Asco-GU – confirmatory Padcev trial throws a curveball

Seagen/Astellas’s bladder cancer drug Padcev is expected to be selling nearly $4bn in five years’ time, according to EvaluatePharma sellside consensus, but its confirmatory EV-301 study has thrown doctors a curveball.

The data, being presented today at the Asco-GU meeting, appear to show that the drug does not work in women. However, the companies can probably shrug off this post hoc subgroup analysis and, even if doctors now shy away from prescribing Padcev to female patients, women comprise a relatively minor portion of this cancer type.