Untreated advanced urothelial carcinoma (aUC) in the modern treatment era: Patterns of care from a decade-long national cohort.

4570 Background: Over the past decade, the therapeutic landscape for locally advanced/unresectable and de novo metastatic urothelial cancer (aUC) has transformed with the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). These agents offer a more favorable benefit-risk and superior efficacy vs historical chemotherapy. We hypothesized that the proportion of untreated patients with aUC has declined over time, reflecting increased uptake of novel therapeutics. Methods: We analyzed the U.S. Flatiron Health EHR-derived de-identified database. We included patients diagnosed with aUC between Jan 1, 2011 and April 30, 2025. Patients were classified as treated if they received first-line (1L) systemic therapy within 6 months of advanced diagnosis. Calendar time was divided into three clinically relevant eras: pre-ICI approval (2011-2016), post-ICI but pre-ADC approval (2017-2019), and post-ADC approval (2020-2025). Outcomes included proportion untreated and time to treatment initiation (TTI) from advanced diagnosis. We estimated the cumulative incidence of treatment initiation using competing-risk methods, treating death before initiating as a competing event. Subgroup analyses evaluated patients with de novo stage IV disease at initial diagnosis. Results: We identified 12,849 patients with aUC (median age 73, 72.9% male, 78.7% white, 57.5% cis-ineligible, 78.3% bladder primary site). The proportion remaining untreated 6 months post advanced diagnosis declined across therapeutic eras: 36.8% untreated in the pre-ICI era, 27.4% in the post-ICI, pre-ADC era, and 22.7% untreated in the post-ADC era. Year-specific analysis showed steady improvement in treatment uptake: treatment within 6 months rose from 56% in 2011 to 79% in 2024 (Table). In the TTI analysis, overall, 25.1% had not initiated 1L therapy before death or data cutoff. Median TTI shortened across eras (63 days, 49 days, 45 days) and competing-risk cumulative incidence initiating therapy increased over time. For example, the probability of initiating 1L therapy within 90 days of aUC diagnosis across eras was 55.9% (pre-ICI), 66.1% (post-ICI, pre-ADC) and 70.7% (post ADC). Conclusions: In a large national cohort, untreated rates among patients with aUC declined markedly from 2011-2025 paralleling the introduction of ICIs and ADCs. Novel, better-tolerated therapies appear to have expanded real-world treatment eligibility and reduced early attrition. Temporal trends in treatment rates. Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 3 months 0.48 0.53 0.54 0.57 0.58 0.61 0.68 0.65 0.67 0.69 0.69 0.72 0.7 0.74 6 months 0.56 0.6 0.61 0.63 0.65 0.69 0.73 0.7 0.74 0.76 0.76 0.78 0.78 0.79 1 year 0.58 0.63 0.64 0.66 0.67 0.71 0.75 0.72 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.79 0.8 0.81

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Journal
Journal of Clinical Oncology
Published
2026-05-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1200/jco.2026.44.16_suppl.4570
Primary Topic
Bladder and Urothelial Cancer Treatments
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article
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article

Untreated advanced urothelial carcinoma (aUC) in the modern treatment era: Patterns of care from a decade-long national cohort.

Aram Babcock, Haojie Li, Ronac Mamtani, Chethan Ramamurthy et al.
Journal of Clinical Oncology
Bladder and Urothelial Cancer Treatments
article

Untreated advanced urothelial carcinoma (aUC) in the modern treatment era: Patterns of care from a decade-long national cohort.

Aram Babcock, Haojie Li, Ronac Mamtani, Chethan Ramamurthy, Blanca Homet Moreno, M Mayer, N Seewald
article en

Abstract

4570 Background: Over the past decade, the therapeutic landscape for locally advanced/unresectable and de novo metastatic urothelial cancer (aUC) has transformed with the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). These agents offer a more favorable benefit-risk and superior efficacy vs historical chemotherapy. We hypothesized that the proportion of untreated patients with aUC has declined over time, reflecting increased uptake of novel therapeutics. Methods: We analyzed the U.S. Flatiron Health EHR-derived de-identified database. We included patients diagnosed with aUC between Jan 1, 2011 and April 30, 2025. Patients were classified as treated if they received first-line (1L) systemic therapy within 6 months of advanced diagnosis. Calendar time was divided into three clinically relevant eras: pre-ICI approval (2011-2016), post-ICI but pre-ADC approval (2017-2019), and post-ADC approval (2020-2025). Outcomes included proportion untreated and time to treatment initiation (TTI) from advanced diagnosis. We estimated the cumulative incidence of treatment initiation using competing-risk methods, treating death before initiating as a competing event. Subgroup analyses evaluated patients with de novo stage IV disease at initial diagnosis. Results: We identified 12,849 patients with aUC (median age 73, 72.9% male, 78.7% white, 57.5% cis-ineligible, 78.3% bladder primary site). The proportion remaining untreated 6 months post advanced diagnosis declined across therapeutic eras: 36.8% untreated in the pre-ICI era, 27.4% in the post-ICI, pre-ADC era, and 22.7% untreated in the post-ADC era. Year-specific analysis showed steady improvement in treatment uptake: treatment within 6 months rose from 56% in 2011 to 79% in 2024 (Table). In the TTI analysis, overall, 25.1% had not initiated 1L therapy before death or data cutoff. Median TTI shortened across eras (63 days, 49 days, 45 days) and competing-risk cumulative incidence initiating therapy increased over time. For example, the probability of initiating 1L therapy within 90 days of aUC diagnosis across eras was 55.9% (pre-ICI), 66.1% (post-ICI, pre-ADC) and 70.7% (post ADC). Conclusions: In a large national cohort, untreated rates among patients with aUC declined markedly from 2011-2025 paralleling the introduction of ICIs and ADCs. Novel, better-tolerated therapies appear to have expanded real-world treatment eligibility and reduced early attrition. Temporal trends in treatment rates. Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 3 months 0.48 0.53 0.54 0.57 0.58 0.61 0.68 0.65 0.67 0.69 0.69 0.72 0.7 0.74 6 months 0.56 0.6 0.61 0.63 0.65 0.69 0.73 0.7 0.74 0.76 0.76 0.78 0.78 0.79 1 year 0.58 0.63 0.64 0.66 0.67 0.71 0.75 0.72 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.79 0.8 0.81

Journal of Clinical OncologyVol. 44(16_suppl)
Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA (United States) (US), University of Pennsylvania (US)
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 6%
Bladder and Urothelial Cancer Treatments
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