Clear signal for new type of immunotherapy – study underway in Norway
It exists national treatment guidelines updated in 2020. They describe patients in stage IV and/or inoperable stage III should be considered for referral for inclusion in experimental studies. Here it shows that 40–50 per cent of patients with metastatic malignant melanoma have a BRAF mutation, which will have an impact on the choice of regimen in later lines, but immunotherapy should be considered in the first line for all patients. Initially, the use of a PD-1 inhibitor is recommended and in carefully selected patients with a good functional class who are informed about and willing to accept a higher risk of side effects, the combination of Opdivo and Yervoy can be considered, the treatment guidelines state.
One should generally be careful when comparing data from several studies, but the effect of Opdualag was slightly weaker than the Opdivo-Yervoy combination in Bristol Myers Squibb’s own CheckMate-067 study, which showed a median of 11.5 months of progression-free survival.
However, relatlimab appears to have an adverse event advantage over Yervoy as it produces significantly fewer reported serious adverse events.