What the trial was testing
The trial enrolled 1,213 patients with bladder cancer. The study was sponsored by Hoffmann-La Roche and tracked outcomes across the full group of patients who matched the trial's eligibility profile.
It was initial testing (phase 2). Trials at this stage are designed to produce evidence regulators and physicians can act on — not just observations to follow up later.
What the results showed
23% of patients with advanced bladder cancer responded to atezolizumab when standard chemotherapy wasn't an option.
Lancet (London, England) · 2017 · NCT02807636
These findings — that nearly a quarter of patients saw their tumors shrink with this immunotherapy — were published in the Lancet (London, England) and represent the headline result of the study.
Researchers tracked outcomes across 1,213 patients enrolled in the trial. The result was consistent enough across the group that the team felt confident reporting it.
What this means for patients
For patients with bladder cancer, this result changes the calculus on what to ask their care team about. Whether it changes day-to-day care depends on factors like disease subtype, prior treatments, and where the patient is in their care journey.
What you can do now
This was an initial testing study and atezolizumab was not yet FDA-approved for this specific use at the time. Since then, atezolizumab (brand name Tecentriq) has received FDA approval for certain bladder cancer patients. Talk with your oncologist about whether this immunotherapy might be right for your situation.
Eligibility for the treatments mentioned above depends on specific test results and clinical history. Bring this summary, the trial name, and your most recent labs or pathology report to your next visit.
Open bladder cancer trials
Phase II Study of Oral Metformin for Intravesical Treatment of Non-muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer
A multi-center, open-label, phase II clinical study of metformin in up to evaluable 49 patients with low-grade NMIBC with the aim to determine the overall response to administration of oral metformin for 3 months in a index papillary NMIBC tumour.
Bladder Cancer Longitudinal Biorepository for Development of Novel Therapeutics/Biomarkers
The purpose of this study is to create a registry, which is a "bank" of information about patients who have had similar medical conditions and treatments. The registry will be used by researchers to learn more about long term outcome of patients with bladder cancer, how bladder cancer tissues are related to tumor development, recurrence and survival.