Bladder Cancer Awareness Month: Shifting the Paradigm for Patients With Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer (MIBC)

This May, we’re calling special attention to Bladder Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM). In 2025, nearly 85,000 new cases of bladder cancer will be diagnosed in the US.1 It is a time for reflection and renewed hope around ongoing efforts and research advances aimed at improving care for a patient community that needs change.

The ABCs of MIBC

In the US, bladder cancer is the sixth most common cancer.1 Bladder cancer is considered muscle-invasive when there is evidence of the tumor invading the muscle wall of the bladder, becoming harder to treat.2 An estimated one in four bladder cancer patients are diagnosed with MIBC.3 Historically, bladder removal surgery has been a common treatment for patients diagnosed with this type of bladder cancer.4

But even for those patients who undergo bladder removal surgery, the risk of their disease returning is high, with nearly half experiencing disease recurrence.5 This grim statistic underscores a critical need for new treatment options that can challenge these standards and help patients live longer.

Hope for the MIBC Community

After years of minimal progress, medical innovation is starting to catch up, offering renewed hope to patients diagnosed with MIBC and their loved ones. New immunotherapy-based treatment approaches have the potential to change the treatment paradigm for MIBC.

In the video below, Mark Story, Director of Communications and Marketing at the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, talks about our mutual commitment to the MIBC community and how we’re keeping the promise of hope together for patients living with this challenging disease.

Our Commitment to Redefining Treatment Standards

Whether it’s during BCAM or any time of the year, we are committed to working toward a future where patients with bladder cancer have better treatment options, better outcomes, and more hope. Our focus remains on finding new ways to push the boundaries of current treatment standards—especially for challenging cancers like MIBC—so that patients can live longer, healthier, and happier lives.

References

  1. National Cancer Institute. Bladder cancer treatment (PDQ®)–health professional version. Accessed April 16, 2025. https://www.cancer.gov/types/bladder/hp/bladder-treatment-pdq   
  2. American Cancer Society. What is bladder cancer? Accessed April 16, 2025. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/bladder-cancer/about/what-is-bladder-cancer.html
  3. Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network. What is muscle invasive bladder cancer? Accessed April 16, 2025. https://bcan.org/what-is-muscle-invasive-bladder-cancer/
  4. American Cancer Society. Bladder cancer surgery. Accessed April 16, 2025. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/bladder-cancer/treating/surgery.html
  5. Wong VK, Ganeshan D, Jensen CT, Devine CE. Imaging and management of bladder cancer. Cancers (Basel). 2021;13(6):1396.