Dr. Agarwal on Next Steps in Kidney Cancer

Neeraj Agarwal, MD, associate professor, Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Huntsman Cancer Institute, discusses the next steps in the kidney cancer paradigm.

Physicians have access to a lot more drugs and combinations that are increasing survival with each passing year, says Agarwal. That is great news for physicians and patients alike, but has made it increasingly difficult for physicians to select drugs for a given patient. Physicians sometimes must resort to cross trial comparisons, though there are problems with cross-trial analyses, says Agarwal, such as population differences.

Physicians need biomarkers to further the treatment paradigm, explains Agarwal. Biomarkers will help physicians predict who is going to respond, and more importantly, who is not going to respond to a given therapy. Agarwal predicts that physicians will have access to biomarkers in the coming years, which will revolutionize the face of personalized medicine in kidney cancer.