This Practice Update interview with Dr Monty Pal from City of Hope Hospital, Duarte, USA and Dr Jun Gong from Cidars-Sinai Medical Centre, Los Angeles, USA reports further follow-up data from the KEYNOTE-426 clinical trial. KEYNOTE-426 is a phase 3 trial looking at the effectiveness of a combination of axitinib and pembrolizumab compared to sunitinib in the first-line treatment of metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

The study showed that the combination of axitinib and pembrolizumab improved time to when the treatment stopped working and the cancer starting growing again (progression-free survival), overall survival time and cancer shrinkage (response rate) compared to sunitinib as a first-line treatment for metastatic RCC.

This interview reports data from these patients with 2 years of follow-up.

Of the 426 patients that were treated with the combination, 30% completed two years of treatment. In these patients, average overall survival time and progression-free survival could not be calculated because patients were still responding to treatment. Cancer shrinkage rate was 85% in these patients and 14% had a complete response to treatment.

In conclusion, this study shows meaningful benefits as a first-line treatment for metastatic RCC and could become the new standard of care for the treatment of this cancer.

Watch the video interview on Practice Update here