Ep. 253 BCG Shortage: Salvaging Bladder Cancer Care When Standard Care Is Scarce with Dr. Amy Luckenbaugh

How do you effectively treat your bladder cancer population with an insufficient supply of BCG? Dr. Amy Luckenbaugh, a urologic oncologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, joins host Dr. Ruchika Talwar to highlight challenges and solutions to managing bladder cancer amidst ongoing BCG shortages.

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This podcast is supported by an educational grant from UroGen Pharma. UGN-102 was approved by the FDA on June 12, 2025.

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SYNPOSIS

Dr. Luckenbaugh and Dr. Talwar delve into the history and significance of BCG in bladder cancer treatment, exploring the reasons behind the shortages and discussing various coping strategies, including split dosing and alternative intravesical therapies like gemcitabine, docetaxel, and the new mitomycin hydrogel. The conversation also covers emerging treatments for high-risk patients, the role of radical cystectomy, and the importance of standardization and innovation in dealing with medication shortages. Dr. Luckenbaugh highlights the importance of patient quality of life, cost considerations, and the need for resilient pharmaceutical supply chains.

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Introduction
01:56 - History and Importance of BCG in Bladder Cancer
03:21 - Challenges and Shortages of BCG
06:36 - Managing BCG Shortages in Clinical Practice
12:33 - New Alternatives and Treatments for Bladder Cancer
23:28 - The Role of Cystectomy in Bladder Cancer Treatment
26:12 - Future Directions and Final Thoughts

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RESOURCES

BCG Shortage AUA Recommendations:
https://www.auanet.org/about-us/bcg-shortage-info

Reduced-dose bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in an era of BCG shortage: real-world experience from a tertiary cancer centre: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11951178/

Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN):
https://bcan.org/

Primary Chemoablation of Recurrent Low-Grade Intermediate-Risk Nonmuscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer With UGN-102: A Single-Arm, Open-Label, Phase 3 Trial (ENVISION)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39446087/b

FDA Approves Intravesical Mitomycin in Non–Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer:
https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resources-information-approved-drugs/fda-approves-mitomycin-intravesical-solution-recurrent-low-grade-intermediate-risk-non-muscle

TAR-200 - SunRISe-3 Study:
https://www.jnjmedicalconnect.com/products/tar-200/medical-content/tar-200-sunrise-3-study

First results from TAR-200 - SunRISe-1 Study:
https://www.jnj.com/media-center/press-releases/johnson-johnsons-tar-200-monotherapy-achieves-high-disease-free-survival-of-more-than-80-percent-in-bcg-unresponsive-high-risk-papillary-nmibc
N-803 Plus BCG Treatment for BCG-Naïve or -Unresponsive Non-Muscle

Invasive Bladder Cancer: A Plain Language Review:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11524197/