Pfizer combines of INLYTA trial data with pembrolizumab

Pfizer has released data from its Phase 1b clinical trial involving INLYTA, which has been combined with pembrolizumab, a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor known as KEYTRUDA, in patients who have advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) that have yet to undergo treatment.

The Phase 1b trial was conceived to assess the safety of the therapy, institute dosing options and determine INLYTA’s anti-tumor activity when it is combined with pembrolizumab for advanced RCC treatment.

“Combining immunotherapy agents with currently approved therapies such as INLYTA may provide a meaningful improvement in outcome for patients with renal cancer,” Pfizer Head of Immune-oncology Dr. Chris Boshoff said. “The results presented today indicate that there is a potential additive or synergistic effect between INLYTA and a checkpoint inhibitor in RCC.”

INLYTA, which is administered orally, was designed to inhibit the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor to treat patients who have advanced RCC after a prior systemic therapy has failed. INLYTA has been approved in 63 countries around the world.

During a Phase 3 trial, it became the first treatment of its kind to establish progression-free survival benefit.