Nivolumab plus ipilimumab for sarcoma – pro
Nivolumab plus ipilimumab may be an effective combination for patients with heavily pretreated metastatic sarcoma, according to research published in The Lancet Oncology.
The median follow-up was 13.6 months in the nivolumab group and 14.2 months in the combination group. Two (5%) and 6 (16%) confirmed responses were noted in the monotherapy and combination groups, respectively. The 2 responses noted in the nivolumab monotherapy group had a duration of 3.2 months and 11.6 months; the median duration of response in the combination group was 6.2 months.
Responses were not noted in any particular disease subtype over others.
Median progression-free survival was 1.7 months in the monotherapy group; median overall survival was 10.7 months. In the combination group, median progression-free survival was 4.1 months and median overall survival was 14.3 months. While no treatment-related deaths were noted, serious adverse events occurred in 8 (19%) patients in the monotherapy group and in 11 (26%) patients in the combination group.
The authors concluded that “those who received nivolumab plus ipilimumab met the predefined activity endpoint, thereby warranting further study.”
D’Angelo SP, Mahoney MR, Van Tine BA, et al. Nivolumab with or without ipilimumab treatment for metastatic sarcoma (Alliance A091401): two open-label, non-comparative, randomised, phase 2 trials. Lancet Oncol. 2018 Jan 19
NCCN, Soft Tissue Sarcoma, SARC-F, 1 2018.