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After Pembrolizumab, Promising Results With Nivolumab in NSCLC
Phase 2 results from the Checkmate-063 trial found that treatment with the PD-1 inhibitor Nivolumab (Opdivo) resulted in a median OS of 8.2 months in NSCLC patients who had received 2 prior treatments.
Treatment of advanced squamous cell non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's experimental immunotherapy nivolumab led to a one-year survival rate of 41 percent in a midstage clinical trial, according to data being presented at a medical meeting.
While the study called CheckMate-063 did not compare nivolumab with another drug or placebo, the historical one-year survival rate for patients like those in the trial, whose cancer had progressed after treatment with two or more prior therapies, is between 5.5 percent and 18 percent, the company said
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Nivolumab belongs to a highly promising new class of drugs called PD-1 inhibitors that block a tumor's ability to camouflage itself, allowing the body's immune system to recognize and attack the cancer. Merck & Co last month received the first U.S. approval of a drug from the class to treat advanced melanoma - the deadliest form of skin cancer.
Complete report on Reuters: http://reut.rs/1sLIzOm
