Pembrolizumab and axitinib combination therapy is a potential treatment for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) who have received previous lines of therapy, according to new data. In a cohort of 38 patients, pembrolizumab + axinitinib was administered as a second-line therapy (in 55.5% of patients), third-line therapy (13.2%) or beyond third-line therapy (30.2%). Median progression-free survival was 9.7 months (95% CI 4.1–15.3) at a median follow-up of 17.1 months. Overall response rate was 25% and disease control rate was 66.6% in the 36 response-evaluable patients. Grade 3 (in 18.4% of patients) and grade 4 (6.4%) adverse events attributable to pembrolizumab and axitinib were observed, and 86.8% of patients overall experienced adverse events.