Researchers evaluated whether treatment with the targeted therapy drug everolimus (Certican) could slow the growth and spread of renal cell carcinoma (a type of kidney cancer) when other targeted therapies, such as sunitinib (Sutent) and/or sorafenib (Nexavar), stopped working.
Two new drugs, sunitinib (Sutent) and temsirolimus (CCI-779), benefit patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, a common type of kidney cancer, according to two different clinical trials. Advanced kidney cancer is hard to treat and there is no effective chemotherapy for it. The standard treatment is interferon-a (Roferon) or interleukin-2 or aldesleukin (Proleukin), but these drugs only work in a small number of patients and are associated with serious side effects.
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common kind of kidney cancer. Unfortunately, most cases are not diagnosed until the cancer has spread to other parts of the body (metastasized), which means that patients with metastatic RCC usually have limited treatment options. Two new studies demonstrate that metastatic RCC responds to new drugs that target multiple, specific pathways in cancer cells.
