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A recent analysis of data from the phase 3 Checkmate-214 clinical trial showed that first-line treatment with the nivolumab/ipilimumab combination significantly delayed the need for subsequent treatment in patients with advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC), compared with standard treatment with sunitinib. This benefit was also seen in patients who had stopped treatment, and was independent of PD-L1 positivity.
The results of this analysis were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology 2018 Congress in Munich last month.
One of the trial investigators said, “The results from this analysis of CheckMate-214 provide important insights into the potential for sustained clinical benefit with the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, for whom there is a considerable unmet need.”
CheckMate-214 compared the ipilimumab/nivolumab combination with standard treatment with sunitinib for newly-diagnosed, untreated patients with advanced or metastatic RCC. A total of 1,096 patients were treated in the study.
The combination significantly improved response rates, time to disease progression, and overall survival compared to sunitinib. The current analysis reports additional benefits of the combination, which significantly extended the time before subsequent treatment was needed from 8.5 months after sunitinib to 15.4 months after the combination. After a median follow-up period of 30 months, 36% of patients who took the combination were alive and had not needed an additional treatment, compared with only 16% of those who took sunitinib. The benefits were seen even in patients who had stopped treatment.
