NICE has recommended a new combination treatment for a form of advanced kidney cancer. It is estimated that around 550 people could benefit.
Avelumab, also known as Bavencio and made by Merck Serono, with axitinib is recommended in final draft guidance for adults with untreated advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC).
This is the first immunotherapy recommended for routine use for people with untreated advanced RCC who are assessed as being in the favourable-risk group, defined by the International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium criteria. There were already treatments recommended for people in both the intermediate and poor-risk groups.
The first line treatment combination has been available through the Cancer Drugs Fund since 2020, to allow further data to be collected on its clinical and cost effectiveness and is now recommended for routine use in the NHS.
Advanced renal cell carcinoma is when cancer that started in the kidney spreads to another part of the body.
Avelumab plus axitinib is given as an intravenous infusion every two weeks. It contains a type of protein that targets and attaches to tumour cells, allowing the body’s immune system to attack the cancer.
Untreated advanced RCC in people with favourable-risk status is usually treated with sunitinib or tivozanib, and sometimes pazopanib.
Clinical trial evidence shows that avelumab plus axitinib increases how long people have before their condition gets worse compared with sunitinib.
In a clinical trial the median progression-free survival was 20.7 months for people taking avelumab plus axitinib compared with 13.8 months for those taking sunitinib. The median overall survival was 79.4 months for those on avelumab plus axitinib and 65.5 months for people taking sunitinib.
The company has a confidential commercial arrangement which makes avelumab available to the NHS with a discount.
