Breast Cancer Drug Tested on Bladder

U.S. researchers will test Abraxane — a drug used to treat metastatic breast cancer — as an alternative to bladder-removal-surgery for cancer patients.

Researchers at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center in New York will be using Abraxane, a drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for breast cancer, after a successful phase l trial involving bladder cancer patients of a similar breast cancer drug –Taxotere.

Abraxane has an analogous structure to Taxotere, but has the advantage of being more soluble due to its solvent-free formulation allowing for administration at higher concentrations, study leader Dr. James McKiernanm, who was also involved in the Taxotere trial, said in a statement. In one study of Abraxane for metastatic breast cancer, the drug successfully shrank tumors and had few side effects.

The phase l/ll study of Abraxane — open to patients with recurrent bladder cancer that has not responded to standard treatment and left with surgical removal of the bladder as the only option — will follow 18 patients for six weeks to assess dosage safety. A second group of l9 patients will then be followed for six weeks to measure the effectiveness of therapy.

Abraxane combines the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel, with albumin, a very small protein.