Randy Sweis, MD, clinical instructor, University of Chicago Medical Center, discusses how the recent approval of atezolizumab will change the treatment paradigm for bladder cancer.

The approval will dramatically change bladder cancer treatment, says Sweis. For patients that have had no response or a recurrence to chemotherapy, there was previously very few options that were effective and had minimal toxicities. Now oncologists can offer these patients atezolizumab, he says.

The approval will also change clinical trials. Many patients coming to trials will now have already received immunotherapies. Phase I trials are planned for patients that have had recurrences while on a PD-1 agent. These trials are typically investigating immunotherapy combinations, says Sweis.

Randy Sweis, MD

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Dr. Randy Sweis on Impact of Atezolizumab Approval in Bladder Cancer