Nivolumab plus ipilimumab benefits patients with asymptomatic melanoma brain metastases

Source: Healio, December 2021

Combination therapy with nivolumab plus ipilimumab conferred an OS benefit for patients with asymptomatic melanoma brain metastases, according to results of the open-label, phase 2 CheckMate 204 study published in The Lancet Oncology.

“Immunotherapy in melanoma has been excessively studied … (but) all of the phase 3 studies completely excluded patients with any evidence of brain metastases,” Hussein A. Tawbi, MD, PhD, deputy chair of and professor in the department of melanoma medical oncology and director of melanoma clinical research and early drug development at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, told Healio. “We were clear on the fact that these agents have the potential to be effective in the brain and we knew that about 40%of our patients from day 1 with metastatic melanoma will have metastatic disease to the brain, so we knew that this population needed better options.”

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