Dr. Figlin Discusses the Future of Kidney Cancer Treatment

Robert A. Figlin, MD, director, Division of Hematology/Oncology, professor of biomedical sciences and medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, discusses the future of kidney cancer treatment.

It’s a very exciting time in this space, Figlin says. Currently available are antiangiogenic agents, targeted therapy, and immune-oncology agents, such as checkpoint inhibitors and CTLA-4 inhibitors. The next step would be to combine these different therapies. Figlin says there is clear evidence that it is effective to combine agents that target checkpoints with other targeted agents. Examples of this would be avelumab (Bavencio), atezolizumab (Tecentriq), or pembrolizumab (Keytruda) with targeted therapies. All of these results are evolving in terms of the response rates going up. These responses have also been durable, Figlin says.

He adds that the big unanswered question is how these combinations will compare with immunotherapy combinations like nivolumab and ipilimumab (Yervoy).