Immunotherapy Combination Extends Mesothelioma Survival

Standard-of-care treatment for unresectable pleural mesothelioma cancer could be changing soon, sparked by a recently completed international study of a novel immunotherapy combination. Patients in the randomized mesothelioma clinical trial who were treated with ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab (Opdivo) had a median overall survival of 18.1 months, compared to 14.1 months for those receiving chemotherapy. The results of the mesothelioma trial, which was sponsored by Bristol Myers Squibb, were presented at the recent World Conference on Lung Cancer virtual meeting. Authors of the study said it was the first time an immunotherapy combination used in a first-line setting for pleural mesothelioma improved survival in a large phase III clinical trial. “Nivolumab and ipilimumab should be considered as a new standard of care,” said study presenter Dr. Paul Baas of the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. “This is a clear signal that this treatment could be of great use for these patients.” Survival Benefit Greatest in Hard-to-Treat Mesothelioma Subtypes While the survival improvement was modest overall, there was a dramatic improvement in the traditionally toughest-to-treat mesothelioma subtypes. For patients with non-epithelioid histology (sarcomatoid or biphasic), median survival was 18.1 months for those receiving the immunotherapy treatment, and only 8.8 months for those receiving standard chemotherapy. At 24 months, the overall survival rate for non-epithelioid...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: news