Bladder Cancer

Arjun Balar, MD, discusses the treatment considerations he makes when treating patients with urothelial carcinoma, the role of PD-L1 tumor expression and immune checkpoint inhibitors, and the potential for new immunotherapy agents in this space.

As immunotherapies become a greater part of the treatment paradigm of various cancers, researchers are spending more time developing ways to determine which patients will respond better to immunotherapy. Mutational load is one such biomarker that appears to have an impact on response to immunotherapy, particularly for checkpoint inhibitors.

Immunotherapy treatments for several tumor types has been developing steadily for years. However, the options for patients with bladder cancer have been limited until quite recently.

Robert Huddart, professor, The Institute of Cancer Research, discusses the HYBRID trial which assessed hypofractionated bladder radiotherapy with or without image guided adaptive planning in elderly patients with bladder cancer.

The combination of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab with chemotherapy induced objective responses in one-third of patients with previously treated metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

Andrea Apolo, MD, discusses promising early data demonstrating the activity and safety of cabozantinib and nivolumab, with or without ipilimumab, in bladder cancer and other advanced genitourinary cancers.<br /> &nbsp;

A biologics license application for avelumab has been granted a priority review by the FDA for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

Matthew Galsky, MD, professor of Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, discusses results of a study examining nivolumab monotherapy in metastatic bladder cancer.

A supplemental Biologics License Application for pembrolizumab has been granted a priority review by the FDA for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who progress following platinum-containing chemotherapy.

Pembrolizumab has been granted a priority review by the FDA as a treatment for cisplatin-ineligible patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

Nivolumab has been granted an accelerated approval by the FDA as a treatment for patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic urothelial carcinoma following progression on a platinum-containing therapy, based on findings from a phase II CheckMate-275 study.

Treatment with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab significantly prolonged overall survival over investigators&rsquo; choice of chemotherapy in patients with recurrent advanced urothelial carcinoma.

A supplemental new drug application for the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab has been granted priority review by the FDA in cisplatin-ineligible patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma as a frontline therapy or following progression occurring &ge;12 months after neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy.

Geoffrey Sklar, MD,&nbsp;Chief Medical Officer, Chesapeake Urology Associates, discusses the possibility for immunotherapy as a neoadjuvant treatment in bladder cancer.

The FDA has granted a priority review to a biologics license application for durvalumab for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma whose disease has progressed on standard platinum‑based chemotherapy.

Gopa Iyer, MD, discusses the standard chemotherapy options available for patients with bladder cancer, the ongoing progress with immunotherapy, and the management of immune-related toxicities.

Dean Bajorin, MD, discusses the ongoing studies exploring new chemotherapy approaches in these patients and how the cytotoxic treatments could still ultimately be replaced with immuno-oncology agents.

Daniel P. Petrylak, MD,&nbsp;professor of Medicine and Urology, Yale Cancer Center, discusses studies evaluating second-line treatment options in bladder cancer.

Novel immunotherapy agents continue to move through the pipeline in the treatment landscape of bladder cancer, and they show no signs of slowing down.

Anti-CD22 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy induced an 80% complete remission rate among children and young adults with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Deepak A. Kapoor, MD, Chairman and CEO of Integrated Medical Professionals, discusses how physicians can adapt to the new value-based payment models.

Renowned oncologist Charles G. Drake, MD, PhD, has joined NewYork-Pesbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC).

The FDA has issued a complete response letter to&nbsp;Spectrum Pharmaceuticals for apaziquone (EOquin; Qapzola) in bladder cancer.&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;

Joaquim Bellmunt, MD, PhD, attending physician of Solid Tumor Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the impact of the phase III KEYNOTE-045 study, which compared second- or third-line pembrolizumab with investigator-choice chemotherapy as a treatment for patients with metastatic or locally advanced, unresectable urothelial carcinoma. All patients in the study had recurred or progressed following platinum-based chemotherapy.

Treatment with the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab at selected doses led to a high response rate and marked improvements in overall survival ​for patients with pretreated metastatic urothelial carcinoma.