Large studies, pharma research will bring interstitial cystitis treatments

Key Points

Based on a 146,000-household survey, RICE is not only showing higher estimates than previous studies in the numbers of women with IC/BPS symptoms, it is also delving into how diagnosis and treatment is-or isn't-getting accomplished, the illness's natural history, the impact on quality of life, the timing of comorbid conditions, and self-care and its effectiveness. It will be interesting to see how these insights mesh with MAPP's work to test whether the illness is local or systemic.

Among promising industry efforts are clinical trials based on phase I results with the TARIS Biomedical Lidocaine Releasing Intravesical System as well as laboratory research finds of potent blockers of antiproliferative factor, the urothelium-damaging peptide unique to patients' urine.

Even before these new treatments come along, new methods to phenotype patients should help direct the therapies we have today and should help get the most out of future treatments. It's not conclusive whether current phenotyping methods can optimize therapy, but they are being tested, and new ways of phenotyping may be coming from MAPP research, noted Dr. Hanno, professor of urology at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, the AUA's recently published clinical guidelines will help urologists, other specialists, and primary care providers "diagnose the disease sooner and treat more rationally," Dr. Hanno told Urology Times.

Two podium sessions at this year's AUA annual meeting-a first for IC/BPS-will give urologists some clinical insight into current treatments, foreshadow potential treatments to come, and place some more pieces into the etiologic puzzle.