Dr. Stadler on Approved and Investigational Therapies in RCC

Walter M. Stadler, MD, Fred C. Buffett Professor of Medicine and Surgery, chief of the Section of Hematology/Oncology, and director of the Genitourinary Program at the University of Chicago Medicine, discusses approved and investigational therapies in renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

To date, physicians have access to the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) for patients with poor- and intermediate-risk RCC. In the CheckMate-214 trial, the combination outperformed single-agent sunitinib (Sutent) in patients with metastatic RCC.

There are a number of other combinations that are being examined, adds Stadler, including PD-1 inhibitors combined with various VEGFR inhibitors. Most of the data with combinations are still pending, but in September, positive results were reported with the combination of avelumab (Bavencio) and axitinib (Inlyta). The combination was reported to show a significant improvement in progression-free survival compared with sunitinib in treatment-naïve patients with advanced RCC regardless of PD-L1 expression.