Who manufactures BCG for bladder cancer?

Who manufactures BCG for bladder cancer?

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, otherwise known as BCG, is a standard treatment option for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. Merck & Company is the only maker and supplier of BCG to the United States.

What if BCG does not work for bladder cancer?

BCG failure usually carries a risk of recurrence but rarely of progression. For low-grade failure, intravesical chemotherapy is a valid option. This scenario is different from that where BCG intravesical therapy is unsuccessful in high-risk T1 disease and/or CIS, where a risk of progression may sometimes reach 50%.

Is BCG the same as chemo?

Conclusions: Intravesical BCG significantly reduces the risk of short and long-term treatment failure compared with intravesical chemotherapy. Therefore, it is considered to be the intravesical agent of choice in the treatment of CIS.

Is there a still a shortage of BCG for bladder cancer?

The non–muscle invasive bladder cancer treatment BCG remains in short supply, with Merck currently serving as the sole supplier of the medication in the US.

Can BCG cause cystitis?

Brief Summary: Common local side effects are generally seen during induction and during the first 6 months of BCG maintenance. BCG-related cystitis is frequent and unavoidable. Furthermore, repeated BCG instillation increases the incidence and severity of irritative bladder symptoms.

Can bladder cancer return after BCG?

In some cases, maintenance BCG treatment will be recommended for one year for those at intermediate risk of recurrence and for three years for those at higher risk for recurrence. Even in people who are treated appropriately, bladder cancer often recurs.

How successful is BCG for bladder cancer?

Doctors typically use BCG immunotherapy to treat stage 0 and stage 1 bladder cancer. The 5-year relative survival rate for people with stage 0 bladder cancer is 95.4 percent . For people with stage 1 bladder cancer, this figure is 69.4 percent .