Treatment with a new combination of active substances for metastatic kidney cancer

Lenvatinib is an antitumor and antiangiogenic agent from the group of tyrosine kinase inhibitors that is currently used to treat certain forms of thyroid cancer, liver cell cancer and kidney cancer.
A study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that the combination of lenvatinib with pembrolizumab (a checkpoint inhibitor, a drug designed to enable the immune system to respond to the tumor again) leads to longer progression-free survival and high response rates.

Whether the new combination also leads to an extension of overall survival is unclear due to the still too short follow-up period.

Approval in this combination is still pending in Germany, but could be granted in fall 2021.
Source: New England J. Med. 2021, 384, 1289-1290

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