Recent studies conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University show that obese people have an increased risk of developing common kidney cancer, kidney stones apart from being at a high risk of getting a stroke. A study involving 1,640 participants studied the effects of weight on kidney cancer. The average age of patients was 62 and all participants had kidney tumors. The study showed that patients with a BMI of 30 or higher were 48% more likely to develop clear-cell renal cell cancer (RCC). With every 1 point increase in BMI, obese patients increased their odds of getting kidney cancer by 4%. Out of all the participants, 67% of the obese patients had kidney cancer compared to 57% of non-obese patients.

GlaxoSmithKline’s Votrient is one step closer to approval in the US after an FDA advisory committee voiced unanimous support for the drug as a treatment for kidney cancer. The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee has concluded that the benefit-to-risk profile of Votrient (pazopanib) is acceptable for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer which claims around 13,000 lives a year in the US.

The FDA has approved the drug bevacizumab (Avastin), in combination with interferon alfa, as a treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Avastin is already indicated for the treatment of metastatic colorectal carcinoma, nonsmall cell lung cancer and glioblastoma, usually in combination with other agents. The latest approval was based on results from a trial of 649 people who had metastatic renal cell carcinoma and had undergone nephrectomy.

Antigenics has received Russian regulatory approval for its Oncophage vaccine for kidney cancer patients at intermediate risk for disease recurrence. Oncophage, the first personalized cancer vaccine to be available in any major market, is expected to be launched in Russia in the second half of the year. The company also plans to file for conditional approval of marketing the vaccine in Europe.