Treating non-clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is challenging because these diseases are rare, and so far there are no effective treatments for this group of patients. Non-clear cell RCC is currently treated in a similar way to clear cell RCC.

In a phase 2 clinical trial, 31 patients with non-clear cell RCC were treated with lenvatinib plus everolimus. The investigators looked at response rates, which were most impressive in patients with chromophobe RCC. The results from the trial were presented at the 2020 International Kidney Cancer Symposium (IKCS). Overall, the the response rate for the combination was 25.8%, the clinical benefit rate was 61.3%, and the disease control rate was 3.9%. Lenvatinib plus everolimus also led to a reduction in the size of the tumour in most patients.

The safety of the lenvatinib plus everolimus combination was similar to that seen in previous studies with either drug alone.

Read more in and interview in Targeted Oncology here