Two separate studies involve new drugs for advanced kidney cancer have shown that both treatments yielded superior results based on clinical trials, reports stated.
The studies were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and results were also presented at the recently concluded European Cancer Congress held in Vienna.
The first study involved the drug nivolumab (Opdivo), a PD-1-inhibitor developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb, given to 821 patients that have the advanced form of the disease. The drug has already been approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in certain types of lung cancer and melanoma.
Half were given Opdivo and the other half were given everolimus, or Novartis AG's Afinitor. The study showed that those who received the first drug was able to significantly shrink the tumors of 25 percent of the participants compared to the second drug's five percent.
Furthermore, the patients in Opdivo group survived for 25 months, which is 5.4 longer compared to those who received Afinitor.
The study, dubbed as Checkmate 025, according to BBC, was halted shortly due to Opdivo's significant results.
On the other hand, the second study called Meteor involved the drug known as cabozantinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor developed by Exelixis, Inc.
This drug is already approved for use in thyroid cancer and is carrying the brand name Cometriq; however, the pill tested for the kidney cancer study is in a different form.
Cabozantinib kept the disease under control for 7.4 months compared to 3.8 months from everolimus in a 658-patient trial.
Researchers noted that the drugs are not intended for use in all patients with kidney cancer. Both drugs were analyzed for its efficacy on those who only have advanced form of the disease.
Further studies are needed to find out if both drugs can also be effective when given in patients with the early stage of kidney cancer.
