NEJM: Levatinib-Pembrolizumab is better than sunitinib in the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma

Sunitinib and other vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors are the first-line treatment for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, but most patients have relapsed due to the development of drug resistance.

Recently, researchers investigated the therapeutic effect of tyrosine kinase inhibitor levatinib combined with PD-1 monoclonal antibody pembrolizumab or levatinib combined with everolimus on advanced renal cell carcinoma .

In this phase III clinical study, patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who have not received systemic treatment in the past were randomized to receive levatinib (20 mg orally per day) combined with pembrolizumab (200 mg intravenously every 3 weeks), levatinib Ninetil (18 mg orally per day) combined with everolimus (5 mg orally per day) or sunitinib (50 mg orally once a day, once every 4 weeks, taking the drug for 2 consecutive weeks, and then stopping the drug for 2 weeks).

A total of 1069 patients participated in the study, including 355 in the levatinib-pembrolizumab group, 357 in the levatinib-everolimus group, and 357 in the sunitinib group.

The study found that for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, levatinib-pembrolizumab treatment has a significant advantage compared with sunitinib in improving the progression-free survival and overall survival of patients.

Robert Motzer et al.