Prof Motzer presented data on this negative trial for mRCC at ESMO 2022, watch the interview here.

“Even with notable progress in the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC), there are still limited options available that can extend the time patients live without recurrence.” said study first author Robert Motzer, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA.

“It is important to share these results with the scientific community to provide valuable insight for the advancement of medicines that may help patients achieve better outcomes. The potential for dual immunotherapy to provide survival benefits in earlier-stage and advanced cancers has been demonstrated in other studies, including genitourinary tumours and was studied with intent on preventing recurrence in patients at high risk following nephrectomy. We must remain focused on bringing innovative treatment options to patients with challenging-to-treat diseases like RCC,” he concluded.

Dominik Berthold, CHUV - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland, not involved in the study, commented: “Medical treatment after nephrectomy (removal of the kidney) is a critical need as relapses can occur in more than half of the patients with unfavourable characteristics. Given recent positive results from KEYNOTE-564, a randomised clinical trial with pembolizumab, medical agencies registered the drug in this setting. The CheckMate 914 trial could not replicate these results: the number of patients relapsing after nephrectomy was not significantly reduced with early immunotherapy and this despite using a combined immunotherapy with ipilimumab and nivolumab, which is considered a very powerful treatment in many solid tumour types.”

Analysing the results, Berthold added: “Can differences in trial design and study populations explain these dissimilarities? Investigators will need to look in detail at subpopulations and biomarkers to guide treatment decisions and trial design for current and future patients. More data on perioperative immunotherapy will be presented (LBA 66 & 67) at this remarkable ESMO annual congress, resulting in better understanding of the value of early checkpoint inhibition.”

Source: ESMO