Dr. Hammers on Nivolumab/Ipilimumab Data in RCC

Hans Hammers, MD, PhD, associate professor, Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, discusses a mature data set regarding nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) in the treatment of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Hammers discusses a trial which randomized patients to receive either high-dose ipilimumab plus nivolumab or low-dose ipilimumab in combination with nivolumab.

The results showed robust antitumor activity with a response rate of 40%. The progression-free survival was close to what oncologists typically would like to see with tyrosine kinase inhibitors, at 6 to 9 months. Both the duration and rapidity of response, says Hammers, is quite encouraging for immunotherapy and indicates that it is a very active regimen.

In terms of the safety profile findings, low-dose ipilimumab was found to be better tolerated for patients with RCC, with roughly 30% of patients experiencing grade 3 or 4 toxicities.