Dr. Pal on Sequencing Nivolumab in RCC

Sumanta Kumar Pal, MD, assistant professor, genitourinary cancers, City of Hope, discusses sequencing nivolumab in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma.

The answer to this question, Pal says, greatly depends on how the phase III data on nivolumab versus everolimus turns out. If this data is positive, it will created a second- or third-line opportunity for nivolumab. For nivolumab to cross into the first-line space, it would need to be compared head-to-head with a VEGF-directed agent, Pal says.

If a phase I trial looking at the combination of VEGF-directed with nivolumab pans out, the oncology community could see a trial looking at VEGF-targeted therapy plus or minus nivolumab.