Bladder cancer patients given an immunotherapy drug are a third less likely to see the disease return and have a greater chance of surviving, a ‘game-changer’ study has found.
Patients with advanced (muscle invasive) bladder cancer had significantly less risk of the cancer getting worse or coming back when treated with durvalumab, and they were more likely to be alive two years after treatment.
Experts from the University of Sheffield and the Barts Cancer Institute at Queen Mary University of London included 1,063 patients with operable bladder cancer in their study.
Patients received standard chemotherapy (cisplatin and gemcitabine) and surgery (530 people), or chemotherapy plus durvalumab before surgery and eight cycles of durvalumab after surgery (533).
The late-stage Phase 3 clinical trial found that patients were 32 percent less likely to experience cancer recurrence or progression if they received immunotherapy, and were more likely to be alive after two years.
Overall survival after two years was 82.2 percent in the durvalumab group and 75.2 percent in the comparison group.
Durvalumab (brand name Imfinzi) is a treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but is also being tested in other types of cancer.
James Catto, professor of urology at the University of Sheffield and honorary consultant urological surgeon, who co-led the study, said: ‘This is a major breakthrough in the treatment of bladder cancer.
Patients with advanced (muscle invasive) bladder cancer had significantly less risk of progression or recurrence of the cancer when treated with durvalumab (stock image)
Patients received standard chemotherapy (cisplatin and gemcitabine) and surgery (530 people), or chemotherapy plus durvalumab before surgery and eight cycles of durvalumab after surgery (533) (stock image)
Durvalumab (brand name Imfinzi) is a treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but is also being tested in other types of cancer
‘For years, survival rates for advanced bladder cancer have remained stable, but our findings offer hope to thousands of patients facing this devastating diagnosis.
‘Patients treated with durvalumab before and after surgery had significantly higher survival rates and a lower risk of cancer recurrence and did not experience any additional serious side effects.
‘This is important for patients undergoing chemotherapy and its numerous and often debilitating side effects.
‘Our hope is that this treatment can be made available to NHS patients as soon as possible following approval by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, and that it becomes the new standard of care.
‘Recent research suggests that the number of bladder cancer cases will increase by 50% over the next twenty years, yet awareness levels about bladder cancer in Britain remain low.’
The trial was funded by AstraZeneca and the results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Currently, approximately half of patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer experience a recurrence within three years.
Syed Hussain, professor and honorary consultant in medical oncology at the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and principal investigator of the study, said the ‘magnitude of the observed survival benefit will certainly be a game changer’.
Experts from the University of Sheffield and the Barts Cancer Institute at Queen Mary University of London (pictured) included 1,063 patients with operable bladder cancer in their study
For years, survival rates for advanced bladder cancer have remained stable (stock image)
He added: ‘These are exciting times in the treatment of muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
‘We had not seen any additional survival benefit in previous studies of additional treatments in combination with standard cisplatin-based chemotherapy before surgery.
‘By introducing these exciting new treatments earlier in the disease trajectory, we will see more and more patients healed from muscle-invasive bladder cancer.’
Lead author of the study, Thomas Powles, Professor of Genitourinary Oncology at the Barts Cancer Institute at Queen Mary University of London, said: ‘In (the) NIAGARA (study) we have shown for the first time that the addition of immunotherapy to chemotherapy increases the chance on cancer increases. rate of overall survival. This is a big step forward for these patients.’
Ian Flower, 63, from Sheffield took part in the NIAGARA study, carried out at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, after he was diagnosed with operable bladder cancer.
“I was keen to help with the trial, not just for myself, but in the hope that it could help other patients,” he said.
‘It’s nice to hear that the trial has produced positive results and I hope it can be made available to other patients.’