What is the Current Status of Yervoy (Ipilimumab)?

[cesanon]

What is the Current Status of Yervoy (Ipilimumab)? When does it become available? What does it's effectiveness on prostate cancer look like?

[cesanon]

"The phase II CheckMate 650 study, presented at the 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium,1 showed that combination therapy with nivolumab plus ipilimumab had activity in patients with advanced metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, with greater activity in patients who had not received prior chemotherapy compared with those who had been previously treated with chemotherapy. The main drawback of treatment was toxicity, since just 24% to 33% of patients were able to receive the full planned 4 cycles of ipilimumab and nivolumab."

Hmmm doesn't look so good. It is still in Phase II. And the "main drawback of treatment was toxicity". Doesn't look like something to wait around for. You can already get chemo with toxicity that is proven to work. LOL

[Tall_Allen]

It tested badly for PC. Combined with nivolumab it tested meh - with high toxicity. It also didn't work in combination with RT. There is still a clinical trial or two out there, but most researchers have moved onto greener pastures.

[cesanon in reply to Tall_Allen]

This is probably a good lesson not to automatically jump at those clinical trials just because they are clinical trials. There are reasons they are just clinical trials.

[ctarleton]

In advanced prostate cancer men in good shape and prior to chemo, it didn't do significantly better than placebo, and came with lots of side effects, and even some deaths during the trial, .... as reported in an earlier Phase III trial.

"Randomized, Double-Blind, Phase III Trial of Ipilimumab Versus Placebo in Asymptomatic or Minimally Symptomatic Patients With Metastatic Chemotherapy-Naive Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer"

ascopubs.org/doi/full/10.12...

(The above potential side effects profile was a factor in my individual decision back in 2016 (while I had other health problems happening) not to enter a clinical trial that involved Provenge, immediately followed by Ipilimumab. I went on to Xtandi, instead.)

As Tall Allen mentioned, researchers have tried combining it with other treatments that are not based on CTLA-4 checkpoint inhibition and "throwing it up against the wall to see what might stick" to see if some combination with other treatments might be worth the side effects. Has not been looking good, in general, for prostate cancers.

So far as I know, FDA approved indications are still for Melanoma and Renal Cell Carcinoma, .... again, with many listed side effects, warnings, and precautions.

accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatf...

Charles

[Bravesfan33]

The side effects of that combo are very significant. That combo started with melanoma and then moved onto renal cell where many of the some top docs were reluctant to use it due to those side effects. Even with kidney cancer complete responses with it are pretty rare and they still are a long way off from identifying all the underlying genetics which indicate who would (or wouldn't) be a responder.

The immunorelated side effects can occur swift and be life threatening if not caught early though they can often be handled with steroids. Also many of the smaller comminity hospitals still arent up to speed with these treatments and recognizing the SE's. I practically had to plead with the ER doc two years ago to follow up with oncology when my girlfriend was spiking a fever after her second infusion of that combo. They wanted to look for an infection...