A new experimental treatment has shown promising results for a challenging type of bladder cancer, giving hope to patients who might otherwise need their bladders removed.
The research focuses on BCG-unresponsive high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer, a form that does not respond to standard immunotherapy and often requires bladder removal surgery. The new treatment, called Inlexzo, was developed by Janssen Research and Development, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
According to the study, Inlexzo eliminated tumors resistant to previous therapies in 82 percent of patients. Study leader Dr. Sia Daneshmand described the results as the most effective response ever reported for this common form of bladder cancer. He called the findings a “breakthrough” that could change how certain bladder cancers are treated, improving survival rates and patient quality of life.
Inlexzo is applied through a simple outpatient procedure. The device is inserted directly into the bladder without general anesthesia and gradually releases the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine over several weeks. This slow-release system allows the medicine to penetrate deeper into the bladder wall, increasing its ability to destroy cancer cells.
“The longer the chemotherapy remains in the bladder, the more effective it becomes,” Dr. Daneshmand explained. “Delivering it slowly over weeks appears far more powerful than traditional short-term infusions.”
Bladder cancer ranks as the ninth most common cancer worldwide, affecting men more often than women. It is most frequently diagnosed in individuals aged 75 to 84.
In the trial, all participants had high-risk bladder cancer that did not respond to BCG immunotherapy. One group received Inlexzo doses once every three weeks for six months, followed by maintenance treatments every 12 weeks for up to two years. Among these 85 patients, 82.4 percent had no detectable cancer after treatment. About 53 percent remained cancer-free at one year, and many stayed disease-free for over two years without needing additional therapies.
In another group with less aggressive early-stage cancer, 85.3 percent of patients were disease-free after six months, and 81.1 percent remained so after nine months. Overall, 94 percent of participants kept their bladders intact.
However, researchers caution that the findings may not apply to all forms of bladder cancer and further studies are needed to confirm the long-term benefits of Inlexzo.
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