A multicenter real-world study reviewing systemic anticancer treatment choices and drop off rates between treatment lines for metastatic renal cell carcinoma in the United Kingdom: In the immunotherapy era

ABSTRACT

Background: The treatment landscape of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) has evolved over the last few years with several systemic anti-cancer therapies (SACT) licensed across different lines of treatment. A previous real world study in the UK had demonstrated a significant attrition rate between each line of therapy suggesting less than half of patients who received first line SACT then received second line therapy and less than a fifth of first line SACT patients reach third line. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of all patients treated between January 2018 and end of June 2021 to see if advancement in treatment options had impacted on the drop-off rates. Data was collected from 5 UK sites. Patients were identified from electronic SACT database. All reimbursed treatment options including the COVID interim treatment guidelines options were included. Patients who received SACT as part of a clinical trial were also included. Patients who remained on the respective lines of treatment were censored. Results: Data for 515 patients (372 male 143 female) who received first-line SACT for mRCC were included in the analyses. IMDC prognostic groups were 103 favourable, 236 intermediate, 127 poor (49 not available). On progression 69% of patients were able to receive second-line therapy and 34% were able to receive third-line therapy. Of the 515 first-line therapies, 24% of patients received frontline ipilimumab and nivolumab, 10% received TKI and IO combination and 63% received single agent VEGF TKI. Second-line nivolumab or cabozantinib (43% and 40% respectively) were the most commonly prescribed options. Third-line cabozantinib 61% and nivolumab 16% remain the most used options. Across all lines of therapy progressive disease was the primary reason for discontinuation. 5% switched treatment due to toxicity. Conclusions: These results suggest that, with more treatment options available, including combination/ immunotherapy therapies, more patients are able to receive second and third-line therapies. Despite this, nearly one third of patients only receive one line of treatment which highlights the need to deliver the most efficacious treatments first to optimise patient outcomes. Moreover, single agent TKI was the most commonly used first-line SACT despite advances in the management pathway. Data analysing the impact of COVID on treatment selection will be presented.