Potential Benefits of Lenvatinib in Renal Cell Carcinoma

Naomi B. Haas, MD, medical oncologist, director of the Prostate and Kidney cancer Program and professor of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the potential benefits of lenvatinib (Lenvima) for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

According to Haas, there are phase 2 studies ongoing to investigate the benefit of lenvatinib in patients with RCC. One potential benefit is that lenvatinib may augment its activity with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Additionally, some data suggests that it helps to stimulate regulatory T cells and prevent T-cell exhaustion. Haas says that these are the 2 reasons why immune checkpoint inhibitors sometimes do not work in this patient population.

0:08 | There are certainly phase 2 initiatives that are being done to understand the benefit in patients. Lenvatinib is an interesting drug because it probably also has some immunologic aspects that can augment its activity with immune checkpoint inhibitors. So, there's some data to suggest that it might help stimulate regulatory T cells and it might be a way to prevent T-cell exhaustion, which are 2 reasons that immune checkpoint inhibitors sometimes don't work in patients. So, I think it's a very useful approach and I feel encouraged about that.