Immunotherapy for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer: from the origins of BCG to novel therapies.

Lay abstract Many patients with non-invasive bladder cancers may need treatments into the bladder, including one called Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG). Unfortunately, the supplies of BCG have been interrupted and somewhat unreliable since 2012. Because of this, we have been forced to look at other means of treating our patients using drugs similar to BCG. This has made us think about how BCG treatment was first developed more than 40 years ago and how it has evolved as a treatment for bladder cancer. In this article, we review the current uses of BCG and other treatments for bladder cancer and explore what the future may hold for bladder cancer treatment.