- "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 · 11m ago
Unfortunately the recurrence rate after 1 year here is still quite high. Good progress, but not a cure yet.
tptacek · 26s ago
Only a small percentage had a recurrence that progressed to later-stage muscle-invasive illness, though.
blackhaz · 21m 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?
TheAmazingRace · 18m ago
I really wish this was available earlier, because I just lost a family member to bladder cancer yesterday morning. :(
ecoffey · 17m ago
That is tough, I’m sorry for your loss.
TheAmazingRace · 3m ago
Thank you for the condolences.
cowmix · 23m ago
Sorta OT: I’m seriously freaking out AND depressed—reading about this seemingly incredible bladder-cancer treatment (and other breakthroughs I constantly see), and then seeing, in just the past 6+ months, funding slashed and the best students from around the world actively discouraged from coming to our top schools. It’s beyond alarming.
The US is literally crushing both innovation and talent at the same time. Think of all the brilliant minds who can’t—or won’t bother—coming here to test their ideas because visas are paused, revoked, or delayed for political reasons. Worse, proposed H-1B changes favoring only high-wage workers could shut out fresh grads entirely. At this rate, funding is being starved for political concessions, and the next generation of genius scientists might be too scared—or flat-out blocked—from studying and innovating here.
And it’s not just foreign students—even native US students are looking at science careers that might not exist in a few years. My wife is an accountant for research grants, and ALL her PIs are still in a daze, trying to process what’s happening.
Again… depressing AF. THe US based science/research pipeline is toast.
yieldcrv · 2m ago
The US isn't the only country with prestigious universities, that partially function on a form of social taxpayer welfare, that innovate in the medical field
In fact, some other developed nations do it in far greater percentages of the universities' independent revenue.
Many also have quite comparatively easy immigration paths for both students and workers.
searine · 15m ago
And for some reason a contingent of HN is cheering it on.
We are breaking the innovation machine and pretending discoveries will just keep happening.
anonymars · 19m ago
Ultimately that's one reason why the US got the atomic bomb and not the Nazis. Ironic.
Teever · 38m ago
> 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 · 34m 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?
imranq · 24m ago
Turning it off and then on again works in a lot of surprising places
tiahura · 38m ago
“almost half the patients were cancer-free a year later.”
onlyrealcuzzo · 8m 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.
- "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 US is literally crushing both innovation and talent at the same time. Think of all the brilliant minds who can’t—or won’t bother—coming here to test their ideas because visas are paused, revoked, or delayed for political reasons. Worse, proposed H-1B changes favoring only high-wage workers could shut out fresh grads entirely. At this rate, funding is being starved for political concessions, and the next generation of genius scientists might be too scared—or flat-out blocked—from studying and innovating here.
And it’s not just foreign students—even native US students are looking at science careers that might not exist in a few years. My wife is an accountant for research grants, and ALL her PIs are still in a daze, trying to process what’s happening.
Again… depressing AF. THe US based science/research pipeline is toast.
In fact, some other developed nations do it in far greater percentages of the universities' independent revenue.
Many also have quite comparatively easy immigration paths for both students and workers.
We are breaking the innovation machine and pretending discoveries will just keep happening.
Can anyone explain why the vaccine for TB works to treat bladder cancer?
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.