Dr. Quinn on the Future of Treatments for RCC

David I. Quinn, MD, MBBS, associate professor of Medicine, medical director of USC Norris Cancer Hospital, discusses the future of treatments for patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

The future of these treatments in the first-line setting will depend on several phase III studies, explains Quinn. There is a phase III study accruing with bevacizumab (Avastin) and atezolizumab (Tecentriq) compared with sunitinib (Sutent). Another study is comparing the CTLA-4 inhibitor ipilimumab (Yervoy) plus nivolumab (Opdivo) in the first-line setting with sunitinib.

If either of those studies show inferiority for sunitinib, there will be a new first-line therapy in that regard. However, it is unknown how these therapies would stack up against cabozantinib (Cabometyx) as a single agent or in combination, states Quinn. There are combination studies with cabozantinib that are currently ongoing.