Lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab shows improved efficacy and overall survival in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma

A recent study suggests that lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab shows improved efficacy and overall survival (OS) in specific subgroups of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma(RCC). This study was published in the journal, European Urology Oncology.

The CLEAR trial was a phase 3, open-label, multicenter, randomized study that included 1069 patients who were randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio. The participants received either 20mg orally once a day of lenvatinib plus 200mg pembrolizumab intravenously once every 3 weeks, lenvatinib plus everolimus, or 50 mg sunitinib taken orally once daily for a period of 4 weeks and subsequently no treatment for 2 weeks. The International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium (IMDC) risk subgroup analyzed progression-free survival, duration of response and objective response rate (ORR).

It was found that the patients administered with lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab with a confirmed complete response or >75% target-lesion reduction by 6 months showed an OS of ≥91.7% at 24 months. Compared to sunitinib, lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab showed longer median progression-free survival and a higher ORR. Based on the above results, it can be concluded that lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab may provide improved efficacy and better survival than sunitinib in patients with advanced RCC.