Immunotherapy could reduce deaths in advanced stage patients by 25%

This is the result of a study published on September 15 in the “New England Journal of Medicine”, which was unveiled earlier this week at the ESMO congress in Barcelona.

At an advanced stage, bladder cancer is one of the most dangerous and yet it is rarely discussed. In its invasive form, the tumor reaches the muscular walls of the organ. The conclusion of a clinical trial, unveiled earlier this week at the Esmo congress in Barcelona, ​​which brought together more than 25,000 oncologists, reveals that immunotherapy could significantly help.

Bladder cancer affects 3,000 people each year and treatment is not effective for everyone, as there is a 30% risk of relapse and death within three years. The usual treatment consists of first combining chemotherapy, provided that patients are able to receive it because it is “strong chemotherapy, quite toxic” and one “cystectomy, that is, the surgical removal of the bladder“, explains urologist Yann Neuzillet who works at Foch Hospital, near Paris.

But the result is not what was hoped for: “There is a real need to improve things,” insists the specialist.

“The prognosis is quite poor, since objectively, only between 75 and 50% of patients will not have a recurrence after this treatment.”

Yann Neuzillet, urologist

to franceinfo

The researchers therefore tested on these patients, in addition to chemotherapy, an immunotherapy treatment before and after surgery, and the results are impressive: 32% fewer recurrences and 25% fewer deaths, without having additional side effects. “There is no added toxicityassures Yann Neuzillet. The Niagara study clearly demonstrates that Durvalumab is not a source of additional toxicity. It is really the usual toxicity of chemotherapy that we find in the results of the study. For patients, it is a new standard of care to ask their doctor.”

The urologist now hopes that these good results will “booster“marketing authorization applications for this immunotherapy treatment against invasive bladder cancer, so that the 1,500 eligible patients each year can benefit from it.