More Good PD-1 News in Cancer

PD-1 therapies are a big, big deal in oncology these days, and with results like this, no wonder. It's a negative regulator of T-cell function, and blocking it appears to recruit a much stronger immune response to tumor cells. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, and others have antibodies in the clinic, and results are piling up to suggest that these are going to be big. The BMS entry, BMS-936558 (nivolumab), had already shown some promising Phase II results in non small-cell lung cancer, renal carcinoma, and colorectal cancer. Many patients don't respond, but the ones that do seem to show real benefit. (And it's worth noting that there are whole tumor types that don't necessarily respond - as far as I know, no one's gotten a PD-1 response in pancreatic cancer yet, which confirms its nastiness). The new results are for metastatic melanoma, a famous impossible-to-treat condition. Kinase inhibitors like Zelboraf have shown some results, but not without problems, and the cancer always finds a way around and comes back. But this PD-1 antibody seems to have more long-lasting effects: the large study group (Dana-Farber, Johns Hopkins, Yale and more) on this paper report that of 107 patient treated, 33 showed actual tumor regressions. Overall, that is, even counting the ones that did not show as strong a response, medial overall survival rates were 62% after one year and 43% after two years, which is a real improvement. Average life expectancy at the start was one year. 17 patients disco...
Source: In the Pipeline - Category: Chemists Tags: Cancer Source Type: blogs