ASCO Immunotherapy Spotlight

Adding utomilumab (PF-05082566), a 4-1BB agonist, to pembrolizumab (Keytruda), a PD-1 inhibitor, was shown to be a safe and effective combination therapy for patients with different types of advanced solid tumors, according to findings from a phase Ib study presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Findings for the new immunotherapy agent targeting claudin18.2 (CLDN18.2) presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting raised the possibility of a new therapeutic agent in a tumor type with relatively few current options. When added to standard chemotherapy, the treatment reduced the risk of death or disease progression by approximately 50% for patients with CLDN18.2-positive advanced gastric cancers.

Avelumab showed early positive survival data and lasting responses for patients with pretreated advanced or metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma, according to findings from the phase II JAVELIN Merkel 200 trial presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda), when studied in 2 clinical trials for the treatment of patients with pretreated recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), showed an objective response rate (ORR) of 18%, according to findings presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Nivolumab (Opdivo) treatment provided antitumor responses in patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), whether given as a single agent or in combination with ipilimumab (Yervoy). Interim data from the phase II CheckMate-142 trial was presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Patients with recurrent glioblastoma mutliforme reacted well to nivolumab (Opdivo) monotherapy, according to findings from the CheckMate-143 trial that were presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting. The single agent showed a manageable safety profile and promising efficacy signs during the course of the study.

Discontinuing nivolumab-ipilimumab treatment because of adverse events did not have a detrimental effect on survival among patients with advanced melanoma, follow-up from a randomized trial showed.

Infusion with 19-28z chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) modified T-cells led to complete response (CR) rates of 77% to 90% and minimal residual disease (MRD)-CR rates of 68% to 70% in adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia (B-ALL).

Nivolumab (Opdivo) monotherapy showed improved overall survival (OS) and objective response rates for patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) compared with the investigator's choice of alternative therapy, according to data presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.

The combination of cobimetinib (Cotellic) and atezolizumab (Tecentriq) is safe and clinically active in advanced colorectal cancer and resulted in a higher clinical response rate in patients with microsatellite stable (MSS) colorectal cancer patients than either agent alone.

Arjun V. Balar, MD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, co-leader of the Genitourinary Cancers Program, discusses updated results of cohort 1 of the IMvigor 210 study.

A majority of patients (66%) with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) who had progressed after receiving autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) and brentuximab vedotin (adcetris) experienced a response to nivolumab (Opdivo) monotherapy, findings from the phase II CheckMate-205 trial showed when presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.

The immunotherapy agent atezolizumab (Tecentriq) reduced the size of tumors by 24% in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC), according to phase II clinical trial results presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Combination therapy nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) resulted in reduced disease progression risk of 58% when compared with ipilimumab alone in patients with advanced melanoma. Additionally, nivolumab monotherapy showed greater risk reduction (45%) compared with ipilimumab single-agent treatment.

Combining PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab with investigational OX40 agonist MOXR0916 treatment showed early signs of antitumor activity in solid tumor types and was well tolerated by patients.

Three years after the pembrolizumab (Keytruda) clinical trial for advanced melanoma that led to the drug's FDA approval, 40% of the patients are still alive.