BMS’ Opdivo and Yervoy combination shows outstanding survival rate in cancer patients
pharmafile | October 22, 2018 | News story | Sales and Marketing | BMS, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cancer, Yervoy, melanoma, opdivo
American pharma firm Bristol-Myers Squibb have announced that more than 53% of patients with advanced melanoma, who were treated with Opdivo in combination with Yervoy, survived four years or more.
The findings demonstrate the two drugs are more effective in combination than either is alone. While 46% of patients taking Opdivo and 30% of those taking Yervoy survived for four years or longer, the findings demonstrated that more than half survived 48 months when the two drugs were combined.
Meanwhile 71% of those in the combination group, who survived past four years, were treatment-free; this number was 50% for those taking Opdivo and 39% for those taking just Yervoy.
“These four-year results from CheckMate -067, which represent the longest follow-up to date for patients receiving combination therapy with nivolumab and ipilimumab, enhance our understanding of the potential long-term survival benefits of combination therapy, regardless of PD-L1 expression levels, to combat this aggressive form of melanoma,” said CheckMate -067 investigator Dr F. Stephen Hodi, Director of the Melanoma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and investigator at the Ludwig Center at Harvard.
He added that: “To the best of our knowledge, we have not seen a 53% overall survival rate with any available treatment at four years of follow-up in a randomized setting”
Dr Arvin Yang, Development Lead, melanoma and genitourinary cancers, Bristol-Myers Squibb commented: “These latest results from CheckMate -067 provide further support of the long-term scientific rationale for combining Opdivo and Yervoy for the treatment of advanced melanoma.”
“This study advances our mission of understanding how we can best harness the body’s immune system to fight this aggressive form of cancer and provide healthcare professionals and patients with a durable and safe treatment option.”
The new will be featured in an oral presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2018 Congress in Munich, Germany, October 19-23, with simultaneous publication in The Lancet Oncology.
Louis Goss
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