Treatment-free survival after immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy versus targeted therapy for advanced renal cell carcinoma

Patients discontinuing immuno-oncology regimens may experience periods of disease control without need for ongoing anticancer therapy, although toxicity may persist. 42-months results of the multinational phase 3 CheckMate 214 trial found that patients initiating first-line nivolumab plus ipilimumab for advanced renal cell carcinoma spent more survival time treatment-free without toxicity than patients initiating first-line sunitinib, regardless of risk group. The mean treatment-free survival was 6.9 versus 3.1 months for intermediate/poor-risk patients and 11.0 versus 3.7 months for favorable-risk patients. Mean TFS with grade 3 or higher TRAEs was a small proportion of time for both treatments.