Kidney Cancer Drug Shows Early Promise

Medical researchers say they may have discovered an experimental new drug that may show promise in treating kidney cancer. The drug is called CB-839 and it is the first to target an enzyme that cancer cells require to stay alive. This stage 1 clinical trial found that the drug was effective in most patients with advanced kidney cancer when used in combination with another cancer drug called everolimus. In the 15 patients in the study, the dual treatment controlled tumors in 93 percent of the patients, who had either clear cell or papillary renal cell cancer. The study found the drug was well-tolerated, and now researchers are looking forward to testing it on other types of cancer.