Highlights
- •The explosion of therapeutic opportunities for patients with urothelial carcinoma raised concerns regarding the impact of geographical location on access to care, management decisions, outcomes.
- •Nowadays, addressing disparities in timely access to novel therapies is a primary goal of patients’ care.
Abstract
After several decades of therapeutic stagnation, the treatment of patients with urothelial
carcinoma has met a revolutionary wave, anticipated by the advent of immune-checkpoint
inhibitors (ICI) and followed by newer therapeutic options in the post-ICI setting.
These achievements were made in a very short time-frame, thus making the treatment
of this disease particularly susceptible to geographical health disparity due to the
differences in healthcare systems and approval processes of the regulatory authorities.
Furthermore, additional barriers to access innovative care are represented by a limited
coverage of clinical trials availability, that is consistent in focusing on selected
geographical areas, across trials and clinical settings. Here, we present the current
picture of new drug approvals in urothelial carcinoma worldwide, and we also focus
our considerations onto the spectrum of ongoing trial inclusion possibilities, trying
to understand what are the current gaps in clinical research and routine practice,
identifying a way to move forward.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 12, 2022
Accepted:
October 2,
2022
Received in revised form:
October 2,
2022
Received:
August 23,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofFootnotes
Presented in part in an Educational session at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), June 2-7, 2022, Chicago, IL, USA.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
