Renal Cell Carcinoma

Treatment with pembrolizumab demonstrated antitumor activity along with tolerable toxicity in patients with 4 different rare and hard-to-treat malignancies, according to results from a phase II study led by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers and published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.

The FDA has accepted a Biologics License Application for MYL-1402O, a proposed biosimilar to bevacizumab, according to a press release from co-developers Biocon and Mylan. The BLA is seeking approval for the biosimilar as a treatment for multiple types of cancer and the FDA has set an action date goal of December 27, 2020, for a decision on the BLA.

As the new coronavirus disease 2019 creates problems internationally, health-wise and economically, it is also becoming a cause for concern throughout the oncology community.

In February 2020, the FDA gave indications to multiple therapies meant for treatment of solid tumor and hematologic malignancies. FDA action included 10 Priority Reviews, 2 Breakthrough Therapy designations, and 2 Fast Track designations.

Patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma in a real-world cohort of a retrospective analysis demonstrated positive activity and a favorable safety profile when receiving frontline tivozanib.

To help clinicians cope with an increasing number of geriatric patients with cancer, the Association of Community Cancer Centers is addressing this problem with a 2-pronged approach that focuses on the delivery of care and diagnostic assessment.

In the CheckMate 025 trial, nivolumab remained superior to everolimus in terms of efficacy and safety in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma at more than 5 years minimum follow-up and had continued responses in 28 percent of patients, according to a presentation at the 2020 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

Most patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma whose disease progresses after immunotherapy given either alone or in combination with other agents receive subsequent treatment with VEGF tyrosine kinase inhibitors or mTOR inhibitors. When administered post-immunotherapy, cabozantinib is associated with superior median progression free survival, according to retrospective data from a real-world study of patients treated at 16 Italian referral centers.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy combined with nivolumab was associated with “high” disease control and overall survival rates in a phase II study of pretreated patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, according to lead investigator Cristina Masini, MD, who presented the data at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

Combining a broad-spectrum tyrosine kinase inhibitor with an immune checkpoint inhibitor resulted in a high disease control rate in a preliminary dose-finding trial involving patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

A fourth of patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma responded to single-agent therapy with an oral hypoxia-inducible factor–2α inhibitor, which achieved a disease control rate of 80%, a preliminary clinical trial showed.

The combination of ilixadencel plus sunitinib has demonstrated favorable survival compared with sunitinib alone in patients with newly diagnosed metastatic synchronous renal cell carcinoma, Immunicum AB announced in a press release. The research update presented at the 2020 American Society of Clinical Oncology-Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium showed a survival curve separation in the phase II MERECA trial that gives promising signals for the future.

TKI in Poor-Risk Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma

Raja E. Abdulnour, MD, discusses modern management strategies for pneumonitis induced by treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with kidney cancer.

In a phase II trial, the combination of lenvantinib and pembrolizumab demonstrated a manageable safety profile and encouraging antitumor activity in patients with selected advanced solid tumors. The decision to combine the agents was based on preclinical data, which suggested that VEGF and FGF signaling may enhance the therapeutic efficacy of lenvatinib.

Integrating a geriatric assessment into the care of older adults who are receiving cancer treatment in communi­ty oncology practices improves patient and caregiver satisfaction and encourages commu­nication about aging-related concerns, accord­ing to results of a clinical trial that enrolled 541 patients with advanced cancer.

All patients with advanced renal cell car­cinoma assigned to nivolumab plus ipilimumab in the phase III CheckMate 214 trial had a longer treatment-free survival than patients treated with sunitinib. Furthermore, those patients assigned to the combination spent less time experiencing treatment-related adverse events.

The present and future benefits of telehealth in oncology can be observed through Tahoe For­est Cancer Center and its affiliation with the UC Davis Cancer Center, use of other remote clinics, and participation in virtual tumor boards. Even though there are roadblocks to telehealth reaching more locations and more patients, the potential benefit warrants the time needed to get over those hurdles.

The FDA granted approval to countless treatments across cancer types throughout 2019 until the end of the year, with a final approval on December 31^st for the first BRCA targeted therapy in pancreatic cancer. Following the excitement for a new year of further advances, Targeted Oncology followers on Twitter shared their thoughts on some of the most impactful FDA approvals in 2019.