(Credit for Photo: Photo Courtesy of Allegheny Health Network)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) The Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Department of Urology is now offering INLEXZO™, which is a newly FDA-approved, long-acting intravesical drug delivery system for the treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).  

Allegheny Health Network is the first health system in western Pennsylvania to offer this innovative treatment. 

INLEXZO™ is a flexible system shaped like a pretzel that is placed in the bladder during an outpatient procedure which continuously releases chemotherapy over a period of 21 days, and most patients complete eight cycles over six months. 

Early data suggests INLEXZO™ demonstrated a complete response rate of approximately 82%, meaning that most patients experienced no detectable signs of cancer following treatment. 

NMIBC is an early form of bladder cancer that remains confined to the lining of the bladder and it is the most common type of bladder cancer that accounts for about 70 percent of newly diagnosed cases.

Bladder cancer most commonly affects adults that are over age 50 and is more frequently diagnosed in men. Bladder cancer is the 10th leading cause of cancer death in the United States.