Dr. Hammers on the Long-Term Benefits of the CheckMate-214 Study in RCC

Hans Hammers, MD, PhD, associate professor, Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, discusses the long-term benefits of the CheckMate-214 study in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

The CheckMate-214 study demonstrated that frontline treatment with the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) reduced the risk of death by 32% compared with sunitinib (Sutent) for patients with metastatic RCC. Across the full study, the confirmed objective response rate was 39% and 32% (P = .0191) in the nivolumab/ipilimumab group and sunitinib group, respectively.

Patients who are still on therapy and not progressing are in the single-digit range, explains Hammers. There is a 21% confirmed response rate from this study.

The phase I CheckMate-016 study investigating PD-1 and CTLA-4 demonstrates a plateau forming in progression-free survival of around 12% to 18%. According to Hammers, the combination of PD-1 and CTLA-4 inhibitors may provide a long-term benefit that is superior to PD-1 monotherapy.