Renal Cell Carcinoma

In updated 30-month follow-up data from the phase III CheckMate-214 trial, nivolumab combined with low-dose ipilimumab sustained strong responses and a survival benefit as a frontline treatment for patients with intermediate- and poor-risk advanced renal cell carcinoma.

The combination of avelumab and axitinib has been given a priority review designation by the FDA for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Findings from the phase III KEYNOTE-426 study demonstrated a significantly improved progression-free survival and overall survival with the combination pembrolizumab plus axitinib versus sunitinib in previously-untreated patients with clear cell metastatic renal cell carcinoma, according to a prescast ahead of the 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

Based on a recommendation from the FDA, Aveo Oncology has decided not to submit a new drug application for tivozanib. The FDA has advised it was not satisfied with the preliminary overall survival data from the phase III TIVO-3 trial of patients with highly refractory, advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

General Cancer

Toni K. Choueiri, MD, discusses the current role of immunotherapy in the treatment of patients with renal cell carcinoma.

Treatment with the immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab demonstrated dose-limiting toxicities when combined with the tyrosine kinase inhibitors sunitinib or pazopanib to treat advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma, according to the results of a phase I parallel cohort dose escalation trial. However, both combinations showed encouraging preliminary antitumor activity.

Paul R. Eber, MD,&nbsp; discusses how the findings from the phase III CARMENA trial impact mRCC treatment and what challenges remain.<br /> &nbsp;

Patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who received cabozantinib demonstrated improved clinical outcomes compared with patients who received everolimus in a subgroup analysis of clinical outcomes from the phase III METEOR trial.&nbsp;

Patients with metastatic renal and urothelial bladder cancer who receive antibiotics concomitantly with immune checkpoint inhibitors have shorter progression-free survival and&nbsp;overall survival rates than patients who do not, according to a poster presented at the European Congress on Immunotherapies in Cancer&trade; conference, hosted by Physicians&rsquo; Education Resource&reg;, LLC, September 21 and 22, 2018, in Barcelona, Spain.

Toni K. Choueiri, MD, discusses pivotal phase III findings for the combination of axitinib plus&nbsp;avelumab in previously untreated patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Robert A. Figlin, MD director, division of hematology/oncology, professor of biomedical sciences and medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, discusses the considerations behind selecting an immune-oncology agent for the treatment of patients with renal cell carcinoma.