A Step Ahead in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma

Motzer et al. report in the Journal the efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab, an anti–programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) monoclonal antibody, used in combination with lenvatinib, an antiangiogenic drug (a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor [VEGFR] tyrosine kinase inhibitor), as compared with the standard first-line treatment (sunitinib, also a VEGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor) in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.1 This trial adds to the existing evidence of positive outcomes for overall survival and progression-free survival obtained with anti–PD-1–based therapy in combination with ipilimumab2 or axitinib.3 Nivolumab and ipilimumab are indicated for patients with intermediate or poor risk according to . . .