Treatment that can double bladder cancer survival rates available to 1,000 patients in England

More than 1,000 patients living with bladder cancer in England will be eligible for a treatment which can double survival rates from the disease.

In England, 18,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer each year, and only about 10% of people with stage 4 bladder cancer will survive five years or more after they are diagnosed.

The treatment, enfortumab vedotin with pembrolizumab, has been approved for use on the NHS from Thursday. About 1,250 patients across the country to be offered the therapy, which has been described by NHS bosses as one of the “most hopeful advances in decades”.

Clinical trials of the drug have shown that people with bladder cancer that has spread (metastasised) live up to twice as long when given the combination antibody treatment when compared with those given normal chemotherapy.

Prof Peter Johnson, NHS England’s national clinical director for cancer, said that the treatment is “one of the most hopeful advances in decades for people with bladder cancer”.

He added: “Bladder cancer is often difficult to treat once it has spread, but this new therapy is the first one in years to really help stop the disease in its tracks, and our rollout to NHS patients will make a huge difference to the lives of those affected and their families.”

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Source: The Guardian, 21 August 2025