AACR In Review: IDO Pushes Ahead, CTLA-4 Combo Lags Behind

12 Apr 2017

• By Emily Hayes

Though momentum is building for IDO/PD-1 combos, it's still early days for new immunotherapy programs. Clinicians and investors weigh in on the latest data from the American Association for Cancer Research meeting and the state of the immuno-oncology field.

Merck & Co. Inc. arguably got a leg up in its bid to lead immuno-oncology coming out of the American Association for Cancer Research meeting, between the rise of IDO as a target and new data showing disappointing efficacy for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s CTLA-4/PD-1 combination in melanoma compared to PD-1 monotherapy. But development activity is intense and it's unclear where it will all end.

At this year's AACR annual meeting, held April 1-6 in Washington D.C., Bristol reported that its Opdivo/Yervoy combination was superior to the CTLA-4 inhibitor Yervoy (ipilimumab) alone in terms of overall survival (OS) in the Phase III CheckMate 067 study in metastatic melanoma. The data should support converting the accelerated approval to full FDA approval, a win for Bristol