Emerging drugs for urothelial (bladder) cancer

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Metastatic urothelial carcinoma has been associated with poor prognosis and a median survival of approximately 12–14 months with standard therapy. Treatment options for decades have been limited to platinum based chemotherapy as first line with few therapeutic options available to the majority who will ultimately progress beyond platinum.

Areas covered: This review focuses on the various targeted, antiangiogenic, chemotherapeutic and immunotherapeutic agents currently being developed for the treatment of urothelial carcinoma.

Expert opinion: Incorporation of systemic immunotherapy into the treatment of urothelial carcinoma has already fundamentally changed the treatment of this disease. The landscape is rapidly changing and it is likely that immunotherapy will be incorporated into therapy in earlier disease states and in novel combinations. Outcomes in urothelial carcinoma have improved and likely to improve further with ongoing and future clinical research that is discussed in this review.

KEYWORDS:

• Bladder cancer
• urothelial cancer (UC)
• molecular targets
• targeted therapy
• immunotherapy
• immune checkpoint

Article highlights

• A brief overview of the existing therapies for urothelial cancer

• Targeted therapies evaluated in the muscle invasive and metastatic settings and new therapies under investigation

• The revolutionary Advances in immunotherapy

• Immunotherapeutic agents approved in metastatic urothelial cancer and their respective toxicities

• Future directions in biomarker development

This box summarizes key points contained in the article.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.