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Mesothelioma cells
Dual immunotherapy – nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) – will be PBS listed from July 1 for first-line treatment of unresectable malignant mesothelioma.
Evidence for the combination immunotherapy came from the CheckMate-743 trial which found nivolumab plus ipilimumab improved overall survival compared to standard of care chemotherapy (18·1 v 14·1 months: HR 0.74; p=0.002).
The international study, published in The Lancet earlier this year, found the 2-year overall survival rates were 41% with nivolumab plus ipilimumab compared to 27% with chemotherapy.
A third (32%) of patients who responded to immunotherapy were still responding at two years compared to only 8% of patients in the chemotherapy group.
The safety profile for nivolumab plus ipilimumab in first-line mesothelioma was manageable and consistent with previous studies of the combination in other tumour types.
Dr Benjamin Brady, a medical oncologist in the Skin and Melanoma Service at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and director of medical oncology and haematology at Cabrini Health in Melbourne, told the limbic that CheckMate-743 was a landmark study with convincing results.
“This is the first big advancement in mesothelioma in probably 15-20 years. I’m very pleased the government have acted quickly and put it on the PBS.”
Dr Brady said the 4-month overall survival benefit looked modest on paper.