New drugs and new approaches for the treatment of metastatic urothelial cancer

The median survival of patients with metastatic bladder cancer treated with M-VAC is approximately 1 year and long-term survival occurs in a small proportion of patients. Recent efforts to improve the outcome of patients with metastatic transitional cell carcinoma have focused on identifying new drugs with single agent activity and on their incorporation into platinum-based combination regimens. Paclitaxel, docetaxel, ifosfamide and gemcitabine are among the most active new agents. A large number of phase I-II trials have evaluated these agents in two- and three-drug combination regimens. The response proportion observed with these combinations varies considerably and median survival times range from 8 to 20 months. A better understanding of the molecular biology of bladder cancer will undoubtedly influence the selection of new therapeutic modalities. Molecular targeted small molecule therapy and monoclonal antibodies have begun to dominate contemporary studies. Whether or not this approach to therapy will lead to better results must still be determined.