F Hofmann: declares the following relevant activities outside the submitted work: employed as a urologist, serves as guideline associate of European Association of Urology Renal Cell Carcinoma Guideline Panel and reports receiving no compensation for panel membership.

LSO Marconi: none known

F Steward: none known.

C Coppin: declares the following activities related to the submitted work: received support from BC Cancer Agency for travel to a meeting for the study or other purposes. Declares the following relevant activities outside the submitted work: received payment for contracted employment from BC Cancer Agency, a Canadian provincial government cancer agency with treatment policies that include agents described in the submitted work.

TBL Lam: declares the following relevant activity outside the submitted work: serves as member of European Association of Urology Renal Cell Carcinoma Guideline Panel and reports receiving no compensation for panel membership.

A Bex: declares the following relevant activities outside the submitted work: received consultancy support paid to his institution by Pfizer and Novartis for taking part in advisory boards; received payment from Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline for presenting at Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline sponsored symposia and conferences. These companies produce interventions (mTOR inhibitors and VEGF‐targeting therapy) that are researched in the review. Dr. Bex also reports that he is principal investigator of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) SURTIME trial, a randomised phase III trial comparing immediate versus deferred nephrectomy in patients with synchronous metastatic renal cell carcinoma, which is in part supported by a grant from Pfizer to the sponsor (EORTC).

SE Canfield: none known.

B Ljungberg: declares the following relevant activities outside the submitted work: received support from Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis for advisory board attendance, most recently in early 2013, on the topic of renal cell carcinoma. Most interventions assessed in the review are produced by these companies.