Dr. Sonpavde on the Biggest Challenges in Bladder Cancer

Guru P. Sonpavde, MD, director, Bladder Cancer, and physician, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the biggest challenges in the field of bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer is a heterogeneous disease driven by many pathways and molecules, explains Sonpavde. As such, there is no predominant target. This has been an impediment to improving cure rates. However, these challenges have, in part, been addressed with immunotherapy. Bladder cancer has a high mutation burden, which has enabled advances with this approach.

Combinations of immunotherapy drugs might further enhance the benefit that has been observed to date. There are many ongoing phase I trials looking at these combinations, many of which are open at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Sonpavde is hopeful that these combinations will take treatment of the disease to the next level.