Opdivo/Yervoy continues to impress in kidney cancer

Bristol-Myers Squibb has announced that its Opdivo (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilimumab) combo has demonstrated superior overall survival, complete response rates and objective response rates at 42 months in certain renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients.

The combination was tested in intermediate/poor risk patients, and demonstrated superior overall survival, duration of response, complete response rates and objective response rates in the patient group.

BMS confirmed that the results represent the longest follow-up with any immuno-oncology–based therapy in previously untreated RCC patients.

Currently, Opdivo and Yervoy are licensed together in the UK as a first-line treatment for adult patients with intermediate- and poor-prognostic risk advanced RCC only, but the “clinically meaningful results continue to demonstrate the potential of nivolumab plus ipilimumab to improve the long-term survival of intermediate/poor risk renal cell carcinoma patients,” said professor Thomas Powles, director of Barts Cancer Centre.

“These patients suffer from significant unmet need and these results provide the clinical community with a further step in the right direction”.

RCC is the seventh most common cancer in the UK, with around 12,900 new RCC cases diagnosed every year. It is estimated that one in 52 men and one in 87 women will be diagnosed with kidney cancer during their lifetime.

21st February 2020

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