Opdivo and Yervoy combination approved for Non-small cell lung cancer

[Miranda_GO2]

More exciting approval announcements for this week.

On May 15th, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the combination of Opdivo (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilimumab) for treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a PD-L1 level equal to or greater than 1% for patients that do not have EGFR or ALK mutations. The FDA based their approval on the results of the clinical trial CHECKMATE-227 which showed that patient receiving the combination of Opdivo (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilimumab) lived longer, were more likely to respond to treatment, and that the response lasted longer than patients receiving chemotherapy.

The approval of Opdivo (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilimumab) marks the first approval of combined immunotherapy treatment for NSCLC. This gives patients whose cancer does not have a targetable change a new avenue for treatment and more options than they have ever had.

If you have any questions about this approval or others, reach out to us at [e-mail] or 1800-298-2436. We will also be providing links to read more about approvals in GO2's hot topics.

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Have a nice weekend, everyone!

[Denzie Moderator Volunteer]

This is so great! This is the 3rd treatment approval inside 2 weeks. It gives me hope for the future and I hope that this works a long time for many patients.

[Jenniferroseolson]

This is the treatment I have been receiving since December 2019. Great news.

[Miranda_GO2 Partner in reply to Jenniferroseolson]

Jenniferroseolson how are you doing on the combination treatment? Were you doing it as part of the trial?

[Ina3]

Hi Miranda.

Quick question, Can it be used for

Patients who were using Keytruda as a next line of treatment? Any signs of it also helps brain mets?

[Miranda_GO2 Partner]

Hi Ina3 ,

This specific FDA approval was for first line treatment (meaning the first treatment given for stage IV NSCLC without an actionable mutation like ALK or EGFR). If someone was already taking an immunotherapy (like Keytruda) and it didn't work/ stopped working the oncologist would likely want to explore other non-immunotherpay based options, but since this combination is now approved, it might make it easier to get "off label" (meaning not following specific to the guidelines for use) compared to trying to get it before it was approved through compassionate use. With all that being said, I would still strongly encourage someone who didn't respond to their first line immunotherapy treatment, to talk to their oncologist about all the options.

As for your question about the brain mets, this combination has been found to show treatment of brain mets in other types of cancer (like melanoma).

I hope my response was helpful to you. If you have other questions about clinical trials and treatment approvals, you may also want to consider reaching out to our LungMATCH team at 1-800-298-2436 or email [e-mail]. This is the website for information on LungMATCH: lungmatch.org