Megan Hollasch

Benjamin L. Maughan, MD, PharmD, highlights key studies presented at the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting regarding biomarkers and the evolution of first-line treatments in renal cell carcinoma.

“This is the first study to show a statistically significant and clinically meaningful survival improvement with any adjuvant therapy in kidney cancer, and this further supports adjuvant pembrolizumab as a standard of care after surgery in this disease setting,” says Toni K. Choueiri, MD.

Adjuvant pembrolizumab prolonged overall survival versus placebo in certain patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Data from the phase 2 LITESPARK-004 trial led to the FDA approval of belzutifan for patients with von Hippel-Lindau disease who require therapy for associated renal cell carcinoma and other diseases.

Adding perioperative durvalumab to standard care for patients with resectable muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma demonstrated promising event-free and overall survival rates in a phase 2 trial.

Overall, 86% maintained a response for greater than 6 months.

The median time to PSA0.2 was 3.5 months in the apalutamide group, 4.4 months in the enzalutamide cohort, and 7.1 months in the abiraterone acetate group.