Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) achieved a monumental milestone when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Opdualag (nivolumab and relatlimab-rmbw) for the treatment of patients 12 and older with unresctable or metastatic melanoma.
The decision is based on the Phase II/III RELATIVITY-047 trial, which compared Opdualag (a combination therapy of relatlimab and nivolumab) to nivolumab alone. The data, presented in March by BMS, showed that Opdualag met the primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS) in first-line metastatic or unresectable melanoma. And it did this definitively, more than doubling the median PFS when compared to treatment solely with nivolumab (Opdivo), to the tune of 10.1 months versus 4.6 months. It was the first-ever data to be announced from a Phase III trial of a LAG-3 antibody.
Opdualag joins Opdivo and Yervoy in BMS’s arsenal of unique checkpoint inhibitors. Based on recent history, this new addition should only increase the company’s dominance in cancer immunotherapy. Read more here.