Once-daily tablet for advanced kidney cancer approved in US

MANILA, Philippines – Patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) or advanced kidney cancer will soon benefit from a breakthrough therapy for this difficult-to-treat disease.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved everolimus for patients with mRCC after failure of treatment with standard initial anti-cancer treatments (sunitinib or sorafenib). 

The FDA approval was based on the RECORD 1 study that showed everolimus, when compared with placebo, more than doubled the time without tumor growth or death in patients with advanced kidney cancer (4.9 versus 1.9 months) and reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 67 percent.

Additional data also showed that after 10 months of treatment with everolimus, approximately 25 percent of patients still had no tumor growth.

“Everolimus is a proven effective and safe targeted therapy. This once-daily tablet will help improve and extend the lives of patients with advanced kidney cancer,” said Dr. Marie Eileen Sy, head of medical affairs of Novartis Philippines’ Oncology Business Unit.

“Everolimus specifically inhibits a protein inside the cancer cell that controls tumor growth and proliferation as well as blood vessel growth. Simply put, this targeted therapy starves the cancer cells in the kidneys and prevents them from growing and spreading,” said Dr. Tay Miah Hiang, consultant medical oncologist (cancer specialist) at Gleneagles Medical Center in Singapore.

Sy and Tay spoke during the First Leaders in Cancer Care Academy which gathered some of the country’s leading medical oncologists who trained and graduated from the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) and Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center.

The event, dubbed “Novartis Oncology: At the Forefront of Targeted Therapy,” was held recently at the Sofitel Plaza Hotel. Succeeding Leaders in Cancer Care Academy will be held across other institutions.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is often referred to as kidney cancer, which accounts for approximately two percent of all new cancers.

RCC is the most common type of kidney cancer, with occurrence rates rising steadily around the world due in part to smoking and obesity.

In RCC, cancer cells develop in the lining of the kidney’s tubes and grow into a tumor. If left untreated, the tumor can spread to other organs.

“RCC only becomes symptomatic when the disease is already in its advanced stage. Kidney cancer is usually an incidental finding during a routine examination for some other condition,” said Dr. Gerardo Cornelio, consultant medical oncologist at the UP-PGH.

According to Cornelio, the “classic triad” of kidney cancer symptoms is hematuria (presence of blood in the urine), constant low back pain, and a palpable mass detected during a routine physical examination of the kidneys.

“While chemotherapy is often ineffective in patients with advanced kidney cancer, everolimus has demonstrated long-term efficacy and safety in the treatment of such patients,” Tay said.

Cornelio agreed, saying, “Everolimus opens new doors in the treatment of kidney cancer. And because it is a once-daily tablet, patients will find it more convenient to take which will help them comply with treatment.”