# CheckMate 214

Source: https://onco.cc/trials/checkmate-214/  
OnCo record `checkmate-214` (Trial). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

CheckMate 214 is the trial that brought dual immunotherapy to kidney cancer, with a survival advantage still visible eight years later and a fifth of patients in long-term remission.

## Summary

CheckMate 214, trial NCT02231749 sponsored by Bristol Myers Squibb and reported in 2018, brought dual immunotherapy to kidney cancer, with a survival advantage still visible eight years later and a fifth of patients in long-term remission. It randomised 1,096 patients with untreated advanced clear-cell renal cell carcinoma to nivolumab plus ipilimumab or sunitinib, met its primary overall survival endpoint in intermediate and poor-risk patients with durable benefit at eight years, produced complete responses in about an eighth of patients, many lasting off treatment, and led to FDA approval in April 2018, while favourable-risk patients did not gain survival. It is the comparator for every later first-line trial, and no head-to-head between IO-IO and IO-TKI exists, which is the open question.

## Fields

- Kind: Trial
- Status: positive
- Last checked: 2026-09-07
- Registry id: NCT02231749
- Phase: 3
- Setting: Untreated advanced clear-cell RCC: nivolumab + ipilimumab vs sunitinib
- Sponsor: BMS
- Enrolled: 1096
- Result: 8-year OS HR 0.72 (ITT), 0.69 (intermediate/poor risk).
- Outcomes: Overall survival, intermediate/poor risk (8-year follow-up): Nivolumab + ipilimumab vs Sunitinib, HR 0.69; Overall survival, ITT (8-year follow-up): Nivolumab + ipilimumab vs Sunitinib, HR 0.72
- Replication: IO-doublet benefit replicated by IO-TKI trials (KEYNOTE-426, CheckMate 9ER, CLEAR) with different partners; no head-to-head between IO-IO and IO-TKI exists.

## Sources

- ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02231749: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02231749

## Connected records

- cancers: [Clear cell renal cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/clear-cell-rcc/), [Renal cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/rcc/)
- technologies: [Immune checkpoint inhibitors](https://onco.cc/technologies/checkpoint-inhibitor/)
- drugs: [Ipilimumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/ipilimumab/), [Nivolumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/nivolumab/), [Sunitinib](https://onco.cc/drugs/sunitinib/)
- terms: [IMDC risk groups (favourable / intermediate / poor)](https://onco.cc/terms/imdc-risk/), [Sarcomatoid differentiation (RCC)](https://onco.cc/terms/sarcomatoid-rcc/)
- people: [Laurence Albiges](https://onco.cc/people/laurence-albiges/), [Robert J. Motzer](https://onco.cc/people/robert-motzer/)
- key papers: [CheckMate 214: nivolumab plus ipilimumab versus sunitinib in advanced renal cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-checkmate-214-nejm-2018/)

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