Upcoming URMC Bladder Cancer Symposium to highlight advancements in NMIBC

In this interview, William B. Tabayoyong, MD, PhD, highlights the University of Rochester’s upcoming Bladder Cancer Symposium, which will take place on September 14, 2024. Tabayoyong is the moderator for the upcoming symposium as well as a urologic oncologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.

This transcription has been edited for clarity.

William B. Tabayoyong, MD, PhD

Could you provide an overview of the upcoming Bladder Cancer Symposium?

This is our sixth annual Bladder Cancer Symposium. What we like to do is highlight certain areas of interest in the field over the past year. Some of the topics we've included in the past have been the treatment of muscle-invasive bladder cancer, metastatic bladder cancer, robotic surgery vs open surgery, different types of urinary diversions, and what to do for patients with high-risk bladder cancer [in light of] the BCG shortage. This year, we are attacking non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer specifically and highlighting some of the new drugs for patients with high-risk bladder cancer with carcinoma in situ who have failed BCG. There are some new agents in the in the field that just got approved by the FDA, and we're going to highlight those.

What are you hoping that attendees take away from this meeting?

I'm hoping that with the most recent advancements in intravesical therapy for patients with carcinoma in situ that have failed BCG, [attendees leave with a] knowledge that there are new agents that are available and have been approved, and that we have new treatment options for these patients. A lot of this was discussed at the AUA, and a lot of the speakers that were at AUA are going to be presenting for us here. [But] not everyone makes it to AUA, and AUA is such a big meeting, so some things get missed. This is an opportunity to focus on [NMIBC] and let people hear from experts who are involved in those clinical trials [so they can] include some of these new treatments in their practice for their patients.

Could you expand on the specific topics that will be covered at the symposium?

Mark Tyson, MD, MPH, from Mayo Clinic in Arizona is going to be discussing [cretostimogene grenadenorepvec] that was approved for patients with CIS plus or minus Ta or T1 high-grade disease that have failed BCG. It's a new adenoviral intravesical treatment. Sandip Prasad, MD, will be talking about UGN102, which is the reverse thermal gel that contains mitomycin C for patient with intermediate-risk bladder cancer.

Sia Daneshmand, MD, will be talking about the TAR-210 erdafitinib pretzel, which is a device that has slow release erdafitinib in it for patients that have non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer with genetic alterations in the FGFR receptor. Harry Herr, MD, FACS, from Memorial Sloan Kettering will be presenting about a different BCG schedule for patient with high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Karim Chamie, MD, from UCLA will talk about N-803, which is the IL-15 super agonist [delivered] in conjunction with BCG, which has been shown to be effective in patients with CIS and high-risk BCG failure.

All of these [therapies had readouts from] recent clinical trials and have shown effectiveness for this disease space. The [presenters] are all well-established and heavy hitters in the field of bladder cancer, and they are all well-respected nationally and even globally.

For those that are interested in attending, could you share a little bit about when the meeting will take place and how attendees can register and attend?

The meeting is September 14, 2024. It is a hybrid event, but we encourage people to be present in person. Three of our speakers are actually going to be traveling to Rochester and will be here in person. Two of them are from the west coast and have other travel engagements and are not able to be available in person, so they will be there over Zoom. We do have a Zoom option [for attendees] also.

Those interested in attending the Bladder Cancer Symposium can learn more and register here.