Exploring the Updated Efficacy of the CheckMate 214 Trial in RCC

Ulka N. Vaishampayan, MBBS, FAB, director of the Phase I program at the Rogel Cancer Center and a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan, discusses the updated data from CheckMate 214 (NCT02231749) of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) versus sunitinib (Sutent) in patients with previously untreated advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

The 48-month update of the CheckMate 214 trial revealed the median overall survival for the patients with intermediate- or poor-risk disease receiving nivolumab and ipilimumab was 48.1 months. The sunitinib arm had a 35.8% 4-year survival rate. Between the 2 arms, there was about a 15% improvement in survival with the combination. Vaishampayan says this shows combination immunotherapy has the ability to significantly improve long-term remission for these patients.

The complete response (CR) rates were about 10% to 11% in the nivolumab and ipilimumab arm. This information stands out compared with the VEGF tyrosine kinase inhibitor-based combinations that have been reported so far, according to Vaishampayan. This immunotherapy combination has also reported an 18% CR rate in the subset of patients with sarcomatoid histology. She says this should be the treatment of choice for patients with metastatic sarcomatoid RCC.