
“I think it’s really important that people keep signing up to these type of trials to push research forward.”
This trial looked at a biological therapy drug called lenvatinib for kidney cancer that had spread to another part of the body. It was for people whose first treatment had stopped working.
Kidney cancer that has spread is called advanced or metastatic kidney cancer. Having a that blocks blood vessel growth to cancer cells is the usual first treatment. This might include sunitinib or pazopanib.
If this stops working, you might have another type of biological therapy called everolimus. This is called second line treatment.
Researchers wanted to improve second line treatment for advanced kidney cancer. In this trial, they looked at lenvatinib. It is a biological therapy that blocks blood vessel growth.
Researchers thought it might be a useful treatment on its own or alongside everolimus. But they wanted to find out more.
The aims of the trial were to:
The trial team found that having lenvatinib alone or with everolimus worked better than having everolimus alone.
153 people took part. They were put into 1 of 3 groups at random.
The researchers looked at the average length of time people lived without any signs of their cancer getting worse. This is called progression free survival. They found that on average, this was
People who had everolimus alone had the fewest serious side effects. The most common was a drop in red blood cells (anaemia).
People who had lenvatinib alone or with everolimus had more problems with
The lenvatinib group also had more problems with protein in the urine. And the lenvatinib group had problems with tiredness (fatigue) and weakness.
The trial team concluded that having lenvatinib alone or with everolimus improved progression free survival.
We have based this summary on information from the research team. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists () and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team who did the research. We have not analysed the data ourselves.
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Dr James Larkin
Eisai
Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC)
NIHR Clinical Research Network: Cancer’
Freephone 0808 800 4040
“I think it’s really important that people keep signing up to these type of trials to push research forward.”