GU Cancers 2022 | Real-world treatment outcomes of 1L axitinib + pembrolizumab in patients with advanced RCC in the US

Yousef Zakharia, MD, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, discusses an investigation on real-world treatment outcomes of first-line axitinib plus pembrolizumab in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma in the United States (US). The FDA approval of pembrolizumab plus axitinib for the treatment of clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in the first-line setting followed the Phase III KEYNOTE-426 (NCT02853331) clinical trial where an impressive 60% overall response rate (ORR) was demonstrated. Dr Zakhari explains there are many questions that cannot be answered by clinical trials which provided the rationale for the exploration of real-world outcomes for this treatment combination in patients with RCC. Electronic medical records were reviewed of 355 patients with both clear-cell RCC and non-clear cell RCC, looking at multiple variables including ORR, real-world progression-free survival (PFS) and real-world overall survival (OS). ORR was shown to be 47%, PFS was 40% and 75% of patients demonstrated an OS of 12 months and beyond. This interview took place at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Genitourinary Cancers Symposium 2022 in San Francisco, CA.