Combination Nivolumab and Ipilimumab Shows Efficacy in Advanced Melanoma

Georgina V. Long, BSc, PhD, MBBS, FRACP, co-medical director of Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA), chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Translational Research at MIA and Royal North Shore Hospital, University of Sydney, discusses the design and efficacy of the phase III CheckMate 067 trial for patients with advanced melanoma.

This was a 3-arm randomized trial which investigated ipilimumab (Yervoy), an anti-CTLA4 therapy, and nivolumab (Opdivo), an anti-PD-1 therapy, in combination versus ipilimumab alone versus nivolumab alone. Long says the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab was not originally powered to be compared to the nivolumab monotherapy, but descriptive analyses have been completed. These data looked at the 5-year overall survival (OS) for patients with advanced melanoma on these regimens.

The descriptive analysis showed that the landmark OS at 5 years was high, according to Long. She explains that survival remained the highest with the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab at about 52%, whereas with nivolumab alone, it was about 44% and with ipilimumab, it was the lowest, at about 26%.

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