- "TAR-200 is a miniature, pretzel-shaped drug-device duo containing a chemotherapy drug, gemcitabine, which is inserted into the bladder through a catheter. Once inside the bladder, the TAR-200 slowly and consistently releases the gemcitabine into the organ for three weeks per treatment cycle."
- Phase 2 Clinical Trial
- 85 patients with high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer
- "treated patients with TAR-200 every three weeks for six months, and then four times a year for the next two years"
- 70/85 patients—the cancer disappeared and still gone 1yr later in almost 50% patients
- FDA granted TAR-200 a New Drug Application Priority Review
- Johnson & Johnson manufactures TAR-200
woeirua · 3h ago
Unfortunately the recurrence rate after 1 year here is still quite high. Good progress, but not a cure yet.
tptacek · 2h ago
Only a small percentage had a recurrence that progressed to later-stage muscle-invasive illness, though.
lordofgibbons · 2h ago
Do cancers have a tendency to come back with better drug resistance if it's not fully eliminated? at least a resistance to the drug that got rid of it the previous time?
octaane · 18m ago
For some cancers yes, for other cancers, no. Sometimes resistance to therapy is a matter of time, not prior lines of therapy.
ac2u · 13m ago
I wish I could find the article, but there is a clinic somewhere that ran trials where they deliberately wouldn’t treat the cancer too aggressively. Instead they experimented with treatment frequency but with control being the aim instead of elimination.
The theory being that they could keep it at bay indefinitely and lower the chance of selection pressure kicking in. The thought behind their approach is that they wanted their patients to die of something different than their cancer.
tomsto · 2h ago
Emphatically so, yes
codr7 · 1h ago
Return customers generate more profit.
AnimalMuppet · 45m ago
Not if the same thing can't be used to treat them again.
blackhaz · 3h ago
My father currently suffers from bladder cancer, he's currently in palliative care, he's in Ukraine. If there are any medical professionals here, could someone provide an advice - is there any chance to get him access to TAR-200?
gautamcgoel · 41m ago
So sorry to hear this, I wish him the best.
octaane · 12m ago
No, the trial is closed to new participants. Check the company website to see if they are having international trials or are open to compassionate use.
TheAmazingRace · 3h ago
I really wish this was available earlier, because I just lost a family member to bladder cancer yesterday morning. :(
selectodude · 17m ago
Always kind of bittersweet to read these breakthroughs in cancer treatment.
bdcravens · 33m ago
So sorry to hear. My father passed from bladder cancer that metastasized 20 years ago.
xxr · 1h ago
Very sorry for your loss. An uncle had bladder cancer about 15 years ago, and while he survived, it began a very steep decline that led to his passing in 2022.
javiramos · 2h ago
Sorry for your loss.
ecoffey · 3h ago
That is tough, I’m sorry for your loss.
TheAmazingRace · 2h ago
Thank you for the condolences.
pugworthy · 2h ago
To be clear, here is the rest of what the article title should be...
> ...for individuals with high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer whose cancer had previously resisted treatment
tptacek · 1h ago
Only those patients were admitted to the trial, so the effectiveness of the treatment on later-stage muscle-invasive disease is unknown. That it's scoped to patients who are BCG-unresponsive ("previously resisted treatment") makes the breakthrough more significant, not less.
A_D_E_P_T · 2h ago
There's an open access paper on the development of the drug here:
> The standard treatment for this type of bladder cancer is an immunotherapy drug, Bacillus Calmette-Guérin,
Can anyone explain why the vaccine for TB works to treat bladder cancer?
QuercusMax · 3h ago
This "drug" is a weakened form of the bacterium, which apparently stimulates immune response. So I guess it works for both TB and bladder cancer just by getting your immune system to notice something is amiss?
octaane · 14m ago
I can explain. BCG infects the actual epithelial cancer cells inside the bladder, triggering Th-1 response (production and release of cytokines by activated CD4 T cells).
The cytokines induce an inflammatory response, which I turn activates other immune system cells such as CD4 and CD8, NK cells and macrophages.
The immune cells then attack the bladder cancer cells, hopefully destroying them, thus "fighting cancer".
Source: Li J et al, NPJ Vaccines. 2021;6:14.
imranq · 3h ago
Turning it off and then on again works in a lot of surprising places
tiahura · 3h ago
“almost half the patients were cancer-free a year later.”
mcswell · 1h ago
More than half would be nice, but: these tests were run on "individuals with high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer whose cancer had previously resisted treatment." One could expect that it would be even more effective on patients whose cancers were not resistant to treatment.
chiph · 2h ago
One of the things I learned going through my own treatment (prostate) was that everyone's cancer is different. Which makes sense if you think about the variability in malignant cell growth.
So something that cures half the patients and only requires an office or outpatient visit every few weeks (no surgery, no radiation) is astounding. This result will likely lead to further research using this approach.
onlyrealcuzzo · 3h ago
That's one way of looking at the glass half empty.
If half of people get rid of cancer for 1 year that is still outstanding - ESPECIALLY if the majority of those remain cancer free for quite some time after.
codr7 · 57m ago
If we wanted patients to survive long term, then maybe we could try a treatment that doesn't destroy their immune system in the process.
tptacek · 40m ago
Invent it and your grandchildren will retire rich.
- "TAR-200 is a miniature, pretzel-shaped drug-device duo containing a chemotherapy drug, gemcitabine, which is inserted into the bladder through a catheter. Once inside the bladder, the TAR-200 slowly and consistently releases the gemcitabine into the organ for three weeks per treatment cycle."
- Phase 2 Clinical Trial
- 85 patients with high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer
- "treated patients with TAR-200 every three weeks for six months, and then four times a year for the next two years"
- 70/85 patients—the cancer disappeared and still gone 1yr later in almost 50% patients
- FDA granted TAR-200 a New Drug Application Priority Review
- Johnson & Johnson manufactures TAR-200
The theory being that they could keep it at bay indefinitely and lower the chance of selection pressure kicking in. The thought behind their approach is that they wanted their patients to die of something different than their cancer.
> ...for individuals with high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer whose cancer had previously resisted treatment
> https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S107814392...
Can anyone explain why the vaccine for TB works to treat bladder cancer?
The cytokines induce an inflammatory response, which I turn activates other immune system cells such as CD4 and CD8, NK cells and macrophages.
The immune cells then attack the bladder cancer cells, hopefully destroying them, thus "fighting cancer".
Source: Li J et al, NPJ Vaccines. 2021;6:14.
So something that cures half the patients and only requires an office or outpatient visit every few weeks (no surgery, no radiation) is astounding. This result will likely lead to further research using this approach.
If half of people get rid of cancer for 1 year that is still outstanding - ESPECIALLY if the majority of those remain cancer free for quite some time after.