Dr Michiel van der Heijden speaks to ecancer about new findings from a major phase 3 trial evaluating durvalumab in combination with neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

The addition of durvalumab improved survival outcomes and increased clearance of tumour DNA prior to surgery.

Dr van der Heijden says a key focus of this analysis is the role of urine tumour DNA as a biomarker.

Clearance of urine tumour DNA before surgery was strongly associated with better event-free survival and higher rates of complete response.

When combined with circulating tumour DNA, this approach provided deeper insight into disease status, helping distinguish local from systemic disease.

These results highlight the growing importance of integrating blood and urine based biomarkers to better predict treatment response and guide personalised management strategies in bladder cancer.