Keytruda's Proposed Bladder Cancer Indication: Is Delaying Cystectomy Really A Benefit?

Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee members wondered when Keytruda should be used since cystectomy can be curative and waiting could make the surgery more difficult.

Bladder as a normal and overactive urinary organ comparison representing the involuntary loss of urine concept as a healthy and unhealthy condition with 3D illustration elements. — Cystectomies in some patients with a high-risk bladder cancer could be tougher if delayed, advisory committee members argued. • Source: Shutterstock

Should Merck & Co. Inc.'s Keytruda be approved for a high-risk bladder cancer, practitioners may be forced to reconcile whether the possibility of delaying, rather than avoiding, a radical cystectomy would be a preferable option for patients.

Keytruda (pembrolizumab) is proposed for treatment of adults with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG)-unresponsive, high-risk, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) with carcinoma-in-situ...