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Combinations of tyrosine kinase inhibitors plus immunotherapy have improved treatment outcomes in patients with advanced kidney cancer.
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.
Fruquintinib is a tablet given daily for 2 weeks followed by a break for 1 week. Sintilimab is an infusion in a vein in the arm given every 3 weeks.
42 patients were in the study. For the patients who had not received previous anti-cancer treatment (22 patients), nearly 7 in 10 responded to treatment with the fruquintinib plus sintilimab combination. The average time to when the treatment stopped working was not reached. However, after 18 months, the treatment was still working and the cancer had not got worse in 6 in 10 patients. For previously treated patients (20 patients), 6 in 10 responded to treatment and the average time to when treatment stopped working and the cancer started growing again was 16 months.
All patients experienced side effects to treatment, half of which were serious or life-threatening. The most common side effects were protein in the urine (proteinuria), low thyroid function (hypothyroidism), high levels of cholesterol and fats in the blood, and low levels of protein in the blood.
The combination of fruquintinib plus sintilimab was promising for the treatment of advanced clear cell kidney cancer and was well tolerated. A phase III study (FRUSICA-02) using this combination treatment is ongoing in China.