Opdivo/Yervoy Data Show Role For Checkpoint Combos; ASCO Debates Biomarkers

CHICAGO – Phase III data presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting on combination use of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s anti-CTLA-4 Yervoy and anti-PD-1 Opdivo offers a long-anticipated answer to the question of what effect is gained by layering immune checkpoint inhibitors, but the results also raise some questions that are major themes of the meeting: what is the role of the PD-L1 biomarker, and what is the cost associated with dual immunotherapy.

The three-arm CheckMate 067 study tested the combination against Bristol’s CTLA-4 inhibitor Yervoy or its PD-1 inhibitor Opdivo (nivolumab) alone in first-line treatment of 945 patients with advanced melanoma. Bristol’s Opdivo and Merck & Co. Inc