More bladder cancer patients just gained a treatment that helps spare the bladder

For people whose early bladder cancer stops responding to BCG — the standard immune treatment rinsed into the bladder — the options have been painfully few, and removing the bladder was often the next step. The US Food and Drug Administration has now widened its approval of ANKTIVA, a treatment that wakes up the body's own killer immune cells, given together with BCG: it covers patients whose tumors are only the finger-like 'papillary' kind, the first approval ever for that group, and means every patient whose bladder cancer no longer responds to BCG can now be considered for it. In the supporting trial, 62% of 77 patients saw their cancer clear completely, and most of those who responded stayed clear for a year or more.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: policy reform