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A new treatment approach could help people with an aggressive form of bladder cancer live longer and reduce the chances of their cancer returning or progressing, particularly those who cannot receive standard chemotherapy, according to findings from a large international clinical trial co-led by researchers at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that patients who received a combination of the immunotherapy drug durvalumab and the targeted cancer drug enfortumab vedotin before bladder removal surgery, followed by immunotherapy after surgery, had a 42% lower risk of death compared with patients who underwent surgery alone. The treatment also reduced the risk of cancer returning or progressing or of other cancer-related events, including death, by 49%.

The findings offer a promising new treatment approach for patients who are unable to receive cisplatin-based chemotherapy, a standard treatment commonly given before bladder removal surgery to help reduce the risk of cancer returning.

"Nearly half of patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer are unable to receive standard cisplatin-based chemotherapy, leaving them with limited treatment options," said Dr. Alexandra Drakaki, professor of medicine and urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and senior author of the study.

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