Andrew Lachlan Schmidt, M.B., B.S. of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute speaks about Novel Therapeutic Approaches and the Evolution of Drug Development in Advanced Kidney Cancer.
Abstract
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) therapies currently approved include tyrosine kinase inhibitors, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and mTOR signaling inhibitors. Increased understanding of clear cell and non-clear cell RCC biology has led to the development of agents targeting hypoxia-inducible factor 2 and MET, while ongoing exploration of targeting immune pathways other than the programmed death-ligand 1 or protein 4 control points associated with cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4. The development of drugs in RCC is moving towards the study of combination therapies and the attempt in care to use a risk-adapted approach. Although several new therapies have been approved in the last decade, there is an urgent need to concentrate drug discovery on novel goals and extend the therapeutic armamentarium in both clear and non-clear cell kidney cancer. This analysis offers a summary of the main priorities currently undergoing clinical evaluation, as well as the history of drug development over the past 20 years and what could occur in the next few years.