Hoosier Cancer Research Network investigators recently presented an E-Poster on the HCRN study GU18-343 during the ESMO 2020 Virtual Congress.

The multi-center clinical trial, “A Phase 2 Study of Cabozantinib in Combination with Atezolizumab as NeoAdjuvant Treatment for Muscle-Invasive BladdEr Cancer (ABATE),” is led by Deepak Kilari, MD, a medical oncologist and researcher at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin. The study is now enrolling subjects at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Additional participating institutions will include Hackensack University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Rochester, and Vanderbilt University.

The study is a single-arm, open-label clinical trial that is assessing the safety and efficacy of combining cabozantinib and atezolizumab as a neoadjuvant therapy in adult patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, with a focus on cisplatin-ineligible patients.

“There is an urgent and unmet need to develop neoadjuvant strategies for cisplatin-ineligible muscle invasive bladder cancer. Even though atezolizumab monotherapy yielded encouraging results in the ABACUS trial, pathologic responses were noted in less than half the patients,” said Deepak Kilari, MD, sponsor-investigator of the study and a medical oncologist at Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin. “Cabozantinib has both anti-angiogenic and immunomodulatory properties that could counteract tumor-induced immunosuppression. The ABATE trial is evaluating atezolizumab with cabozantinib in a neoadjuvant setting for patients with cisplatin-ineligible muscle-invasive bladder cancer.”

The study investigators include:

• Matthew Milowsky, MD – University of North Carolina School of Medicine
• Nancy B. Davis, MD – Vanderbilt School of Medicine/Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center
• Chunkit Fung, MD – UR Medicine /University of Rochester Medical Center
• Scott Johnson, MD – Medical College of Wisconsin
• Peter Langenstroer, MD, MS – Medical College of Wisconsin
• Kenneth Jacobsohn, MD – Medical College of Wisconsin
• Kathryn A. Bylow, MD – Medical College of Wisconsin
• Deepak Kilari, MD – Medical College of Wisconsin

See abstract.

For more information about this research study, including eligibility requirements, visit clinicaltrials.gov (study #NCT04289779).

About Hoosier Cancer Research Network:

Hoosier Cancer Research Network (formerly known as Hoosier Oncology Group) conducts innovative cancer research in collaboration with academic and community physicians and scientists across the United States. The organization provides comprehensive clinical trial management and support, from conception through publication. Created in 1984 as a program of the Walther Cancer Institute, Hoosier Cancer Research Network became an independent nonprofit clinical research organization in 2007. Since its founding, Hoosier Cancer Research Network has conducted more than 210 trials in a variety of cancer types and supportive care, resulting in more than 350 publications. More than 8,500 subjects have participated in Hoosier Cancer Research Network clinical trials.