CheckMate 9ER: Cabozantinib Plus Nivolumab Versus Sunitinib in Kidney Cancer

Description

Based on a phase III clinical trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine, treatment with nivolumab plus cabozantinib in previously untreated advanced renal cell carcinoma yielded significant benefits over sunitinib. Investigators for the CheckMate 9ER reported that trial patients treated with the combination therapy experienced longer progression-free survival, overall survival, and better health-related quality of life.

“These results…highlight this regimen’s potential importance among first-line combinations of immunotherapies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors,” commented study author Toni Choueiri, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, in an institutional press release.