Dr. Grigg on the Future Treatment Landscape of Renal Cell Carcinoma

Claud Grigg, MD, medical oncologist, Levine Cancer Institute, discusses the future treatment landscape of renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

In the next 1 to 2 years, Grigg predicts that physicians will see various combinations of immunotherapies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in the frontline setting. The concern, explains Grigg, is what the second-line setting will have to offer. Physicians know that cabozantinib (Cabometyx) has activity in patients who have previously progressed on other TKIs, so combinations are likely to carry into the second-line setting, adds Grigg. Cabozantinib is approved as both a frontline therapy for patients with advanced RCC and a second-line therapy for patients with metastatic disease.

Novel immunotherapy may have a role in later lines of therapy. In April 2018, the FDA approved the frontline combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) for the treatment of patients with poor- and intermediate-risk advanced RCC. In addition to existing therapies, Grigg hopes to see the development of newer agents in the next 5 years.