Last month the European regulator (the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use) at last gave belzutifan a conditional marketing authorisation for the treatment of advanced clear cell kidney cancer and von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease-associated tumours.

This means that belzutifan is available for the treatment of advanced kidney cancer in Europe, but not in the UK (yet).

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Some exciting results from the phase 2 LITESPARK-003 trial with belzutifan and cabozantinib have been published recently. The study showed that the combination of belzutifan and cabozantinib had promising anti-cancer activity with manageable side effects in patients with advanced clear cell kidney cancer who had not previously been treated.

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An interesting observational study, called MITRE, is looking for patients from 14 locations across the UK. The purpose of this study is to collect real world information on how the gut microbiome matches up with the safety and effectiveness of immunotherapies for patients with advanced kidney cancer, melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer.

The gut microbiome of a healthy person is made of many thousands of different bacteria. The types of bacteria in a person's microbiome can change over time and this can be influenced by things such as diet, drugs, genetics and infection. These bacteria play a central role in the digestion of food, development and regulation of our immune system, as well as our resistance to bacteria and viruses causing disease. Recent evidence suggest that the types of bacteria in a patient's gut microbiome plays a critical role in both the effectiveness and side effects of immunotherapy.

The aim of this study is to assess the microbiome of patients who are on immunotherapy, and link this to response to treatment. The researchers hope this work will help personalise treatment with immunotherapies based on the patient's microbiome. Also, researchers hope to be able change the types of bacteria in a patient's microbiome to make the best of their cancer immunotherapy treatment.

If you are interested in taking part in this study, please visit our clinical trial database for more information here:

A recent early phase study in Chinese patients with advanced kidney cancer looked at the anti-cancer effectiveness and safety of a new combination of fruquintinib (a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that works by blocking the growth of new blood vessels in tumours) plus sintilimab (an immunotherapy that releases the ‘brakes’ on the immune system enabling T cells to attack and kill cancer cells more effectively) in treating advanced clear cell kidney cancer.

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