On June 28, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved bevacizumab-bvzr (Zirabev), a biosimilar to bevacizumab (Avastin), for the treatment of five types of cancer: metastatic colorectal cancer; unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent, or metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell ...
The E2810 trial was conducted to determine whether treatment with the oral drug pazopanib following surgery to remove further metastases in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma would improve their disease-free survival. Results from the study—which showed that primary endpoint of...
Leonard J. Appleman, MD, PhD, of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, discusses phase III trial findings that showed a trend toward worse survival with pazopanib in patients with metastatic kidney cancer who exhibited no evidence of disease following metastasectomy (Abstract 4502).
Christopher Sweeney, MBBS, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Ian D. Davis, MBBS, PhD, of Monash University and Eastern Health, discuss the Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group, working globally to speed clinical research in and treatment of urogenital cancers.
Toni K. Choueiri, MD, and Ziad Bakouny, MD, both of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discuss a retrospective review of genomically profiled patients with sarcomatoid/rhabdoid renal cell cancer who were found to have better outcomes with immune checkpoint inhibitors and to harbor mutations associated...
Neeraj Agarwal, MD, of the Huntsman Cancer Institute, and Arnaud Méjean, MD, PhD, of the Hôpital Européen Georges-Pompidou, Paris Descartes University, discuss an update to the CARMENA trial with new phase III study results on the benefit of cytoreductive nephrectomy followed by sunitinib vs...
Neeraj Agarwal, MD, of Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah Health Care, and Thomas Powles, MD, PhD, of Queen Mary University of London, discuss phase III study findings on outcomes with combination therapy for intermediate/poor-risk and sarcomatoid subgroups of renal cell carcinoma...
On April 19, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) plus axitinib for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). KEYNOTE-426 Approval was based on KEYNOTE-426, a randomized, multicenter, open-label trial conducted in ...
Eric Jonasch, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses major findings over the past 12 months in kidney cancer, including combination immunotherapies and trends in surgical oncology.
Sumanta K. Pal, MD, of City of Hope, talks about the need for investigators across the country to enroll their patients with rare tumors in clinical trials. He describes a trial he is leading for papillary kidney cancer and how others can join his efforts.
Toni K. Choueiri, MD, and Ziad Bakouny, MD, both of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, talk about novel cytokines, checkpoint inhibitors, and vaccines in the treatment pipeline for renal cell carcinoma.
Brian I. Rini, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, discusses current models used to estimate the risk of recurrence as well as genomic data that could help pinpoint individual tumor biology.
Rana R. McKay, MD, of the University of California, San Diego, discusses phase II study findings on atezolizumab and bevacizumab in non–clear cell renal cell carcinoma and clear cell renal cell carcinoma with sarcomatoid differentiation (Abstract 548).
Brian I. Rini, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, discusses phase III findings on a comparison of tivozanib and sorafenib in patients with refractory advanced renal cell carcinoma (Abstract 541).
Ignacio Duran, MD, PhD, of the Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, discusses an overall survival analysis of the phase III METEOR trial of cabozantinib vs everolimus in advanced renal cell carcinoma (Abstract 550).
Laurence Albiges, MD, PhD, of Gustave Roussy, discusses findings on the safety and efficacy of nivolumab used in a “real world” prospective study on metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). This research was conducted after nivolumab was approved for the treatment of mRCC following failure of one or ...
The TIVO-3 trial was conducted to confirm progression-free survival results from the TIVO-1 trial, which found an improvement in median progression-free survival in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with tivozanib vs sorafenib. Findings from TIVO-3 were presented by...
Toni K. Choueiri, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses a subgroup analysis from the JAVELIN Renal 101 study on outcomes for avelumab plus axitinib vs sunitinib in advanced renal cell carcinoma (Abstract 544).
Brian I. Rini, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, and Thomas Powles, MD, PhD, of Queen Mary University of London, discuss their study findings on pembrolizumab plus axitinib vs sunitinib as first-line therapy for locally advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (Abstract 543).
A combination of two drugs could become a new standard first-line treatment for patients with metastatic kidney cancer, according to results from the JAVELIN Renal 101 trial presented at the 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (Abstract 544) and simultaneously published in The New England...
Over the past week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted multiple Priority Reviews: Pembrolizumab in Combination With Axitinib as First-Line Treatment for Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma Today, the FDA accepted and granted Priority Review for a new supplemental biologics license...
Results from the randomized, phase III KEYNOTE-426 clinical trial show that first-line therapy with a combination of pembrolizumab and axitinib extended both overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) for patients with clear cell metastatic renal cell carcinoma compared with the...
Personalized treatment plans may extend life expectancy for patients with early-stage kidney cancer who also have risk factors for worsening kidney disease, according to a new study published by Kang et al in Radiology. Kidney tumors are often discovered at an early stage and are frequently...
Treatment of renal cell carcinoma with stereotactic radiation therapy is as safe and effective for patients with one kidney as it is for those with two, according to an analysis of an international data set presented by Correa et al at the 60th Annual Meeting of the American Society for...
Laurence Albiges, MD, PhD, of Gustave Roussy, discusses data from the global, phase III JAVELIN trial that compared axitinib plus avelumab vs sunitinib, which could lead to a new standard of care in renal cell carcinoma (Abstract LBA6_PR).
A combination of the immune checkpoint blocker avelumab (Bavencio) plus the tyrosine kinase inhibitor axitinib (Inlyta) improved progression-free survival (PFS) in previously untreated patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in the phase III JAVELIN Renal 101 study, according to results...
Cora N. Sternberg, MD, of San Camillo-Forlanini Hospital and the Israel Englander Institute of Precision Medicine at Weill Cornell, discusses results from the phase III CheckMate-025 study on nivolumab vs everolimus for mRCC; the CheckMate-214 study on nivolumab, ipilimumab, and sunitinib for...
The results of the pivotal phase III JAVELIN Renal 101 study—which evaluated avelumab (Bavencio) in combination with axitinib (Inlyta) compared with sunitinib (Sutent) as initial therapy for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma—were recently announced. As part of a planned...
Recently, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) updated its Clinical Practice Guidelines to include new recommendations for cabozantinib (Cabometyx) tablets. With the updates, cabozantinib is recommended by the NCCN for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma regardless...
A research team from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has discovered a way to use computed tomography (CT) imaging to assess kidney tumors that test positive for the biomarker CD117 and accurately determine—before surgery—whether the tumor is benign or malignant. Their findings...
For patients with early kidney cancer, surgically removing a portion of the kidney instead of the whole organ is often a preferred treatment, because the procedure can effectively remove tumors while preserving kidney function. But when it comes to the best surgical approach—robotic,...
Many cases of early-stage kidney cancer can be treated with a relatively new, nonsurgical procedure used to destroy tumors, a new study by Talenfeld et al in Annals of Internal Medicine suggests. The procedure, called percutaneous ablation, involves the insertion of a needle through the skin into...
Interim results from cohort A of KEYNOTE-427, a phase II trial evaluating pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as first-line treatment for advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC), were presented by McDermott et al at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 4500). Interim data showed an overall response...
Toni K. Choueiri, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Elizabeth R. Plimack, MD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center, offer their analysis of two key studies presented in renal cell cancer.
Toni K. Choueiri, MD, and Lauren C. Harshman, MD, both of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discuss phase III study findings on perioperative nivolumab vs observation in patients with localized renal cell carcinoma undergoing nephrectomy (Abstract TPS4597).
David F. McDermott, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, discusses study findings on pembrolizumab monotherapy as first-line therapy in advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (Abstract 4500).
Toni K. Choueiri, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Laurence Albiges, MD, PhD, of Gustave Roussy, discuss two treatment studies: one testing pegilodecakin with nivolumab or pembrolizumab and the other evaluating an oral CXCR4 inhibitor in combination with axitinib (Abstracts 4509 & 4510).
Toni K. Choueiri, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Laurence Albiges, MD, PhD, of Gustave Roussy, discuss the implications of this study’s potentially practice-changing finding that nephrectomy is no longer the standard of care for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (Abstract...
Arnaud Méjean, MD, PhD, of the Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, discusses his study’s potentially practice-changing finding that nephrectomy is no longer the standard of care for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (Abstract LBA3).
The randomized phase III Carmena trial showed that many people with advanced kidney cancer can avoid nephrectomy without compromising survival. The median overall survival for people who received the targeted therapy sunitinib (Sutent) alone was 18.4 months, compared with 13.9 months for those who...
On April 18, Calithera Biosciences, Inc, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track designation to CB-839 in combination with cabozantinib (Cabometyx) for the treatment of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who have received one or two prior lines ...
Pfizer recently announced that the independent data monitoring committee for the phase III ATLAS trial, which is evaluating axitinib (Inlyta) as adjuvant therapy for patients at high risk of recurrent renal cell carcinoma (RCC) after nephrectomy, recommended stopping the trial at a planned interim...
On April 16, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approvals to nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) in combination for the treatment of intermediate- or poor-risk previously untreated advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). CheckMate 214 The approvals were based on...
A major UK survey has shown that patients with urologic cancer—such as prostate, bladder, or kidney cancer—are five times more likely to commit suicide than people without cancer. The analysis also shows that patients with cancer generally are around three times more likely to commit...
Preliminary results from the phase II portion of the TiNivo study, a phase Ib/II multicenter trial of oral tivozanib in combination with intravenous (IV) nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) were presented by Escudier et al at the 2018 Genitourinary Cancers...
Patrick Schöffski, MD, MPH, of Catholic University Leuven, discusses findings on the effect of crizotinib on disease control in patients with advanced papillary renal cell carcinoma type 1 with MET mutations or amplification (Abstract 580).
Sumanta K. Pal, MD, of the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses phase III study findings from IMmotion151, which looked at atezolizumab plus bevacizumab vs sunitinib in untreated metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC), and results from a safety and efficacy trial of axitinib in...
Daniel J. George, MD, of Duke University Medical Center, discusses phase III findings on adjuvant sunitinib in patients with high-risk renal cell carcinoma, in an exploratory pharmacogenomic analysis (Abstract 576).
Daniel J. George, MD, of Duke University Medical Center, discusses study findings on cabozantinib vs sunitinib for previously untreated patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma of intermediate or poor risk, in a subgroup analysis of progression-free survival and objective response rates...
Laurence Albiges, MD, PhD, of the Gustave Roussy Cancer Centre, discusses study findings on the safety and efficacy of nivolumab in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (Abstract 577).