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Jad Chahoud, MD, on the phase 1b STELLAR-002 trial in ccRCC
Jad Chahoud, MD, MPH, MHA, discusses the mechanism of action for zanzalintinib and walks through key design elements of the STELLAR-002 trial.
Preliminary data from an expansion cohort of the phase 1b STELLAR-002 trial (NCT05176483)were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois.1 Overall, the study is investigating the tolerability and activity of first-line zanzalintinib plus nivolumab with or without relatlimab in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).
In a recent interview with Urology Times®, presenting author Jad Chahoud, MD, MPH, MHA, discussed the mechanism of action for zanzalintinib and walked through key design elements of the trial.
On the mechanism of action for zanzalintinib, Chahoud explained, “It's a new VEGFR-TKI that has a very short half-life. That's one of the important things in its development is the short half-life that helps us with the management of some of the common side effects that we expect with these VEGFR-TKIs.”
Chahoud is a genitourinary medical oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.
In total, the ccRCC cohort of the open-label STELLAR-002 trial enrolled 80 patients, with 40 patients sequentially assigned to each treatment arm. Patients were eligible for enrollment if they had unresectable advanced or metastatic ccRCC of any IMDC risk and no prior systemic anticancer therapy for advanced or metastatic ccRCC.
For the study, participants received either 100 mg zanzalintinib orally with either 480 mg IV nivolumab every 4 weeks or 480 mg/480 mg IV nivolumab/relatlimab every 4 weeks. In the zanzalintinib plus nivolumab arm, 75% of patients had intermediate or poor IMDC risk disease.
The primary end points for the trial are objective response rate and safety.
REFERENCE
1. Chahoud J, McGregor B, Reig O, et al. Zanzalintinib (zanza) + nivolumab (nivo) ± relatlimab (rela) in patients (pts) with previously untreated clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC): Results from an expansion cohort of the phase 1b STELLAR-002 study. J Clin Oncol. 2025;43(suppl 17):4515. doi:10.1200/JCO.2025.43.16_suppl.4515
