Prior Pluvicto Shortage Led to Long Waiting Lists for Patients With mCRPC

Editor Note: There is no longer an active shortage of lutetium Lu ¹⁷⁷ vipivotide tetraxetan (Pluvicto). This interview with Roby Thomas, MD was filmed in March of 2022.

Roby Thomas, MD, a medical oncologist, and hematologist at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, discusses the shortage of lutetium Lu ¹⁷⁷ vipivotide tetraxetan (Pluvicto), and how it previously affected patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) being treated at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.

Lu ¹⁷⁷ vipivotide tetraxetan is a tumor-targeted radionuclide therapy approved for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in the post androgen receptor pathway inhibition, post-taxane-based chemotherapy setting in 2022. It is the first and only agent of its kind with no alternative option.

In a full interview, Thomas states that the utility of Lu ¹⁷⁷ vipivotide tetraxetan was demonstrated in the phase 3 VISION study (NCT03511664). The therapy achieved improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) compared with standard-of-care treatment (HR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.52-0.74; P <.0001).

According to Thomas, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center was among the first institutions to have access to lutetium Lu ¹⁷⁷ vipivotide tetraxetan, which created a great opportunity for patients. But, the shortage of the drug resulted in long waiting lists.

0:08 | Mentioning Pluvicto, our cancer center is one of a few that had access to it early, [and] have the capabilities early to administer it, under the guidance of Krishna Gupta, MD. When the time came, and we had patients that had, had been on a list, per protocol that they got compassionate access to Pluvicto, and so they were kind of at the top of the list, but once the FDA approval came about, they had to get into another list.

0:36 | I've personally had patients wait for a few months to book where they could get it, and I've had a couple of patients who by the time they got it, it was just too late or they didn't even get it. Months is kind of the timeframe that we're looking at.