San Francisco, CA (UroToday.com) — EMD Serono, the Healthcare business sector of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in the US and Canada, and Pfizer Inc. announced that the European Commission (EC) has approved BAVENCIO® (avelumab) as monotherapy for the first-line maintenance treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) who are progression-free following platinum-based chemotherapy.