Weber Discusses Sequential Versus Concurrent Immunotherapy in Melanoma

Source: OncLive, August 2016

Nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) have demonstrated considerable success in the field of metastatic melanoma as both single agents and in combination. However, questions remain regarding sequencing the agents and the high toxicities that often occur when the 2 immunotherapies are used together.

To explore these challenges, OncLive spoke with Jeffery S. Weber, MD, PhD, deputy director of the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, co-director of the Melanoma Program, and head of Experimental Therapeutics at NYU Langone Medical Center.

Weber discusses findings from the phase II CheckMate-064 trial, in which patients were randomized to receive either nivolumab followed by ipilimumab followed by nivolumab maintenance therapy, or ipilimumab followed by nivolumab and maintenance therapy with nivolumab. He also places the results from this sequential study in the context of findings from the phase II CheckMate-069 trial, which examined the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab in patients with advanced melanoma.