Dr. Amin on CheckMate-214 Trial in RCC

Asim Amin, MD, PhD, director of immunotherapy, Levine Cancer Institute, discusses the pivotal CheckMate-214 trial in advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

The CheckMate-214 trial took root in the RCC space, when the initial phase I data from the CheckMate-016 trial was published. Results showed clinical benefit and tolerability for the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy). The checkpoint inhibitor combination had previously demonstrated significant clinical activity in patients with advanced melanoma and had received FDA approval in that setting, Amin says.

One of the standards of care for the frontline treatment of RCC was sunitinib (Sutent), a VEGF tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). CheckMate-214 compared the effectiveness of the immunotherapy combination with single-agent sunitinib in previously untreated patients with advanced RCC. Patient stratification was based on the International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium risk model and by geographic location, Amin adds.

The promising findings from CheckMate 214 have led to significant interest among in examining the use of checkpoint inhibitors in combination with VEGF TKIs.