A late stage trial testing [b]Bristol-Myers Squibb[/b] cancer immunotherapy nivolumab in advanced melanoma patients was halted early, after it was determined that the drug was likely to prolong survival, reports [s]Reuters Health[/s]. The 418-patient Phase III study was testing nivolumab as a first line therapy for patients with advanced melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. An interim analysis performed by an independent data monitoring committee found evidence of superior overall survival in patients receiving nivolumab compared with those who received the chemotherapy dacarbazine, Bristol said in the report. The committee stopped the study early to allow the dacarbazine patients to switch to the Bristol drug. Nivolumab belongs to a new class of medicines called PD-1 inhibitors that have generated great excitement for their ability to help the immune system recognise and attack cancer, the report says.
[link url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/24/us-bristolmyers-melanoma-idUSKBN0EZ2RO20140624]Full Reuters Health report[/link]