Tanja Obradovic: Intriguing results reported at ASCO24

Tanja Obradovic shared a post on LinkedIn:

”What about intriguing results reported at ASCO24? One that was not much commented is the report on final OS analysis from the JAVELIN Renal 101 Phase III trial.

Unlike Pembrolizumab results in combination with Axitinib (Keynote 426 trial), in the first line advanced renal cell carcinoma (aRCC) the combination of Avelumab and Axitinib did not result in improved OS compared to Sunitinib. This may be one those cases where inhibition of PD-1 vs inhibition of PD-L1 matters or it is an issue of trials design/influence of novel biomarker since median OS in Avelumab + Axitinib treated patients was quite higher than for patients treated with Sunitinib but did not reach statistical significance. Intriguing to think about reasons especially in light of the Keynote 426 biomarker analysis also reported at ASCO24.

Just like in JAVELIN trial there was no influence of PDL-1 expression but analysis of KN 426 found positive association of 18-gene T-cell inflamed gene expression signature with response to Keytruda + Axitinib. Since biomarker data beyond PDL-1 expression is not available from JAVELIN renal trial it remains to be seen if this signature was dis-balanced in JAVELIN treatment arms and one of possible reasons for differences in OS outcomes.”

Source: Tanja Obradovic/LinkedIn

Tanja Obradovic is the Vice President of Oncology Scientific Affairs at ICON PLCh. She has over 20 years of clinical research experience and has led major pharmaceutical companies for 13 years. Her research focuses on small molecules, antibodies, cell and gene therapy, and major immunotherapy of PD1 inhibitors.