Dr. Concepcion on Bladder Cancer Treatment and Costs

Raoul S. Concepcion, MD, editor-in-chief, Urologists in Cancer Care, Director of Clinical Research, Urologic Surgeon, Urology Associates, PC, Nashville, TN, discusses the costs and novel treatments on the horizon for patients with bladder cancer.

Concepcion believes that bladder cancer comes in two forms: non—muscle invasive and invasive. He adds that non-invasive bladder cancer is one of the most expensive forms of cancer because of the costs associated with the extensive monitoring and follow-up that is needed to detect recurrence or invasion into the muscle.

In order to help ease costs and to ensure better outcomes, companies are currently investigating biological markers for non-invasive bladder cancer that could help predict the tumors that are at high-risk of progressing or recurring.

Additionally, for invasive bladder cancer the company Dendreon is examining the HER2/neu targeted immunotherapy DN24-02. This therapy is currently in a phase II adjuvant trial for patients with HER2-positive urothelial carcinoma following surgical resection.