New data from a Phase III trial has found nivolumab in combination with ipilimumab has ‘durable improvement in survival’ for melanoma patients. 
 

Median overall survival (OS) for patients with advanced melanoma was 72.1 months when they received nivolumab in combination with ipilimumab, compared with 36.9 months for patients received nivolumab alone and 19.9 months for ipilimumab monotherapy.

Bristol Myers Squibb, which is developing the immunotherapy combination, said these results reflect the longest reported median OS in a Phase III advanced melanoma trial.

In addition, nivolumab plus ipilimumab demonstrated a 6.5-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate of 34%, versus 29% and 7% for nivolumab alone and ipilimumab alone. 

Of the 49% of patients who were alive and in follow-up, 77% who received nivolumab plus ipilimumab, 69% of nivolumab-treated and 43% of ipilimumab -treated patients have been off treatment and never received subsequent systemic therapy.

Among melanoma patients with BRAF-mutant tumours, the OS rate at 6.5 years was 57% in patients treated with nivolumab plus ipilimumab, versus 43% for nivolumab alone and 25% for ipilimumab alone.
 

For patients with liver metastases, the OS rate was 38% for those who received nivolumab in combination with ipilimumab, 31% for nivolumab monotherapy and 22% for ipilimumab alone.

“These results build upon our decade-long legacy in treating melanoma, which began when the average life expectancy following a diagnosis of metastatic melanoma was roughly six months and less than 10% of patients survived beyond five years,” said Gina Fusaro, development lead, melanoma, Bristol Myers Squibb.
 

“With some of the longest follow-up with immunotherapies to date, nivolumab and ipilimumab  have consistently demonstrated durable, long-term survival benefits for patients diagnosed with advanced melanoma,” she added.