While improved treatment and earlier detection have trimmed deaths for most types of cancer over the last 30 years, the mortality rate from bladder cancer has remained stable. Less than 15 percent of patients survive past five years if the disease is diagnosed in its advanced stages. So it was welcome news when the Food and Drug Administration earlier this year approved a new drug for the treatment of advanced or metastatic bladder cancer (that is, cancer that has spread from the bladder to other organs).