Sunitinib vs. Everolimus for Advanced Non–Clear-Cell Renal Cancer

Drug development for advanced renal cell carcinoma during the past decade has focused on clear-cell disease, which represents 75% to 80% of all renal cell cancers. A few patients with non–clear-cell histologies have been included in advanced renal cancer phase III trials, but the optimal therapy for these patients remains unclear.

Now, international investigators have conducted an industry-sponsored, randomized, phase II trial to compare standard everolimus versus sunitinib in 108 patients with metastatic papillary, chromophobe, or unclassified non–clear-cell renal cancer. Nearly two thirds of enrolled patients had papillary histology.

At median follow-up of 12 and 13 months for everolimus and sunitinib recipients, respectively, median progre…