GENITOURINARY CANCERS

For decades and even to this day, the foundation of metastatic bladder cancer therapy has been cytotoxic chemotherapy. In fact, until recently, the most significant breakthrough in treatment was in the 1980s, when cisplatin-based therapies, specifically MVAC, became the new standard of care.

In an interview, Jonathan E. Rosenberg, MD, discusses the guidelines and their significance for the treatment of patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

A multidisciplinary set of guidelines for the treatment of patients with nonmetastatic muscle-invasive bladder cancer has been created as a result of a new collaboration between the American Urological Association and several other prominent urological groups. The new guidelines provide a risk-stratified clinical framework to better diagnose, treat, and manage the disease. 

Janssen Biotech has submitted a new drug application to the FDA for apalutamide (ARN-509) for the treatment of non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, the manufacturer of the next-generation oral androgen receptor inhibitor announced today.

According to an update from the phase II KEYNOTE-052 trial presented at the 2017 Global Congress on Bladder Cancer, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was safe and provided tumor reduction as well as durable responses as a first-line treatment for patients with cisplatin-ineligible advanced urothelial cancer.

The therapeutic landscape for patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma is being rapidly altered by clinical trials of immunotherapy, but overall survival could be dramatically improved simply by changing the way quality of life is monitored, according to findings presented at the 2017 Global Congress on Bladder Cancer.

Patients with a history of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer may not have to undergo multiple cytoscopies during routine follow-up, according to data on a new procedure for monitoring RNA indicators of disease recurrence in urine samples. 

Sumanta K. Pal, MD, medical oncologist, assistant clinical professor, Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope, discusses choosing second-line therapy for patients with urothelial carcinoma.

A look back at all the FDA news that occurred in the month of September.

Toni K. Choueiri, MD, clinical director, Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, director, Kidney Cancer Center, senior physician, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses a phase 1b trial of first-line avelumab (Bavencio) plus axitinib (Inlyta) in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Optimal Use of Bone-Targeted Therapy for mCRPC