Seagen Canada announced the commercial availability of PADCEV® (enfortumab vedotin) for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC) who have previously received a platinum-containing chemotherapy and programmed cell death receptor-1 (PD-1) or programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor therapy. Bladder cancer affects an estimated 12,000 Canadians each year making it the fifth leading cancer diagnosis in Canada.4 Bladder cancer is a disease where cancer cells form in the tissues of the bladder5. Urothelial cancer is the most common type of bladder cancer, accounting for about 90% of all cases.6 The advanced stages of urothelial cancer are often referred to as locally advanced or metastatic.7 Although some locally advanced or metastatic bladder cancer will stop growing, shrink, or even disappear in response to current treatment options, the cancer almost always returns and grows aggressively, shortening life expectancy.

The Heath Canada approval of PADCEV was based on an open–label, randomized, phase 3, multicenter study (EV 301) that enrolled 608 patients (including 52 Canadians) with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who received prior treatment with a platinum–containing chemotherapy and PD–1 or PD–L1 inhibitor, a type of immunotherapy. At median follow-up of approximately 11 months, compared with chemotherapy, enfortumab vedotin met its primary endpoint and improved overall survival (OS) by almost four months (median 12.88 months versus 8.97 months). A recent Seagen Canada survey gauging Canadian's knowledge of bladder cancer, conducted by Leger Research, found that many Canadians have limited knowledge as it relates to the condition.

Key survey learnings included: less than one third (31%) of respondents knew smoking was a risk factor for bladder cancer; most respondents (89%) are unaware that bladder cancer has one of the highest recurrence rates among all cancers; the majority of respondents (60%) did not know that certain occupations, such as painter, plumber or firefighter, can pose a higher risk for developing bladder cancer; and only four-in-ten (42%) respondents know that bladder cancer is a treatable cancer, relative to some other forms of cancer.