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Nektar/BMS’s IL-2 Inhibitor Melanoma Failure Leaves Room For Other Contenders

 
• By Alaric DeArment

Nektar is hoping the combination of bempegaldesleukin and Opdivo could have better chances in kidney and bladder cancers, but analysts aren’t sure and see other IL-2 therapeutics as having better prospects.

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Nektar and BMS announced the failure of their Phase III melanoma study • Source: Shutterstock

One of the leading contenders to improve on interleukin-2 (IL-2)-based therapy in oncology is down and possibly out as Nektar Therapeutics and Bristol Myers Squibb Company announced the failure of the Phase III PIVOT IO-001 trial of Nektar’s bempegaldesleukin (bempeg) and BMS PD-1 inhibitor Opdivo (nivolumab) in first-line melanoma. But competing IL-2 drugs in development may have a better shot as bempeg itself may yet have potential efficacy in other cancers.

Nektar and BMS said 14 March that the PIVOT study failed to meet its primary endpoints of improving progression-free survival (PFS) and overall response rate (ORR), while also failing to show statistical significance on the third primary endpoint of overall survival (OS) in the first interim analysis for the combination compared with Opdivo alone in patients with previously untreated unresectable or metastatic melanoma

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