J&J re­ports lat­est da­ta on Balver­sa-based ‘pret­zel’ ther­a­py for blad­der can­cer

Blad­der can­cer pa­tients with a com­mon mu­ta­tion saw promis­ing ear­ly re­sults af­ter re­ceiv­ing a John­son & John­son tar­get­ed ther­a­py that ad­min­is­ters the drug sold as Balver­sa through a slow-re­leas­ing pret­zel-shaped de­liv­ery de­vice.

The treat­ment, known as TAR-210, de­liv­ers the blad­der can­cer drug slow­ly over time through a sil­i­cone tube called the “pret­zel.” Balver­sa, al­so known as erdafi­tinib, is ap­proved as an oral ther­a­py, and hasn’t yet been cleared by the FDA for use in the de­vice. But re­searchers hope de­liv­er­ing the med­ica­tion with the de­vice can spare pa­tients from some of the drug’s side ef­fects, in­clud­ing ane­mia, di­ar­rhea, fa­tigue, mouth sores and hair loss. It’s sim­i­lar to an­oth­er ex­per­i­men­tal J&J blad­der can­cer treat­ment, TAR-200, which us­es the “pret­zel” to de­liv­er chemother­a­py.

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