Dr. Pal on the Design of the SWOG 1500 Trial in Papillary RCC

Sumanta Kumar Pal, MD, an associate clinical professor, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research, co-director, Kidney Cancer Program, and medical oncologist at City of Hope, discusses the design of the phase II SWOG 1500 trial (NCT02761057) in locally advanced or metastatic papillary renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

The SWOG 1500 trial was designed to compare the efficacy of single-agent sunitinib (Sutent) with crizotinib (Xalkori), cabozantinib (Cabometyx), and savolitinib in patients with metastatic papillary RCC. However, the study has been amended to only include sunitinib and cabozantinib in the analysis. The primary endpoint of the study is progression-free survival. This study will test the activity of MET inhibition in this disease and may set a new standard of care, says Pal.

However, accrual can be challenging—especially in rare histologies, adds Pal. For patients with papillary RCC, the study is an opportunity to explore new therapy. Since this is an area of great unmet need, all patients with papillary RCC should be considered for referral to the trial, concludes Pal.