Thomas Powles, MD

Thomas Powles, MD, Barts Cancer Institute, discusses the impact of immunotherapy on the treatment landscape of kidney cancer.

There has been an enormous change in the treatment of kidney cancer in 2017 with studies of immunotherapy in the frontline setting, says Powles.

CheckMate-214 is the study credited with potentially changing the frontline treatment of this disease, demonstrating a reduced risk of death of 32% with the combination on nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) compared with sunitinib (Sutent).

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Thomas Powles, MD, Barts Cancer Institute, discusses the impact of immunotherapy on the treatment landscape of kidney cancer.
 

Dr. Powles on the Impact of Immunotherapy in Kidney Cancer

Thomas Powles, MD, Barts Cancer Institute, discusses the combination of bevacizumab (Avastin) and atezolizumab (Tecentriq) versus single-agent atezolizumab versus sunitinib (Sutent), which was studied in the randomized, phase II IMmotion150 trial for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

The IMmotion150 is the first randomized study in frontline kidney cancer investigating immune checkpoint inhibitors, states Powles.

Dr. Powles on Bevacizumab Plus Atezolizumab in Kidney Cancer

Thomas Powles, MD, Barts Cancer Institute, discusses the future of durvalumab in the treatment of bladder cancer.

In second-line therapy, the selective high-affinity human IgG1 monoclonal antibody durvalumab has shown compelling clinical activity, resulting in a jump directly to the frontline setting in clinical trials. This is ambitious, says Powles, but with frontline chemotherapy showing only modest results in bladder cancer, new therapies need to be tested.

Powles says there is a big chance that durvalumab could replace chemotherapy in the frontline, but combinations still need to be evaluated.

Dr. Powles Discusses the Future of Durvalumab in Bladder Cancer 

Thomas Powles, MD, Barts Cancer Institute, discusses durvalumab as a second-line therapy in locally advanced and metastatic urothelial cancer.

Durvalumab, is a selective, high-affinity human IgG1 monoclonal antibody that binds to both PD-1 and CD80.

In a phase Ib trial, durvalumab was associated with long-term durable responses in patients with metastatic bladder cancer patients who have previously failed on chemotherapy. The response rate was between 20% and 30% and there was also responses reported in the PD-L1—negative population.

According to Powles, durvalumab, along with agents like pembrolizumab (Keytruda), have superseded chemotherapy in the second-line.

Author | Thomas Powles, MD

Articles

Dr. Powles on the Impact of Immunotherapy in Kidney Cancer

Dr. Powles on Bevacizumab Plus Atezolizumab in Kidney Cancer

Dr. Powles Discusses the Future of Durvalumab in Bladder Cancer

Dr. Powles on Durvalumab in Urothelial Cancer