ESMO 2021 | Current and emerging treatment strategies for patients with mccRCC

Laurence Albiges, MD, PhD, Gustave Roussy Institute, Villejuif, France, outlines current first-line treatments and future potential treatment strategies for patients with metastatic clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (mccRCC). There are multiple first-line standard of care combinations for patients with mccRCC. They include combination immunotherapy with nivolumab plus ipilimumab, and an immunotherapeutic agent in combination with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) including pembrolizumab plus axitinib or lenvatinib, and cabozantinib plus nivolumab. Novel treatment strategies are currently assessed to improve the outcomes of this patient population. The ongoing Phase III COSMIC-313 trial (NCT03937219) is evaluating the first triple combination with cabozantinib in combination with nivolumab and ipilimumab in patients with previously untreated advanced or metastatic clear cell RCC. In addition, other studies are investigating whether it is possible to discontinue one immunotherapeutic agent in the long-term in patients with a great response to immunotherapy. Biomarker development is another important area of research aiming to enable the selection of the best treatment strategy for each patient. Dr Albiges also underlines the importance of investigating the best second-line treatment strategies, potentially with novel agents in development. This interview took place at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2021 congress.