New Immune-Focused Drug Shows Promise Against Advanced Kidney Cancer
New Immune-Focused Drug Shows Promise Against Advanced Kidney Cancer
Opdivo appears to outperform older med, Afinitor, in new clinical trial
FRIDAY, Sept. 25, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- A new drug that harnesses the power of the immune system to fight tumors appears to help people battling advanced kidney cancer, a new study finds.
The drug, Opdivo (nivolumab), outperformed a standard chemotherapy, Afinitor (everolimus), in terms of shrinking tumors and boosting patient survival, the study found.
The study was funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb, which makes Opdivo. It was to be presented Friday at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna, and is being published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The new findings "are significant and clinically meaningful to patients and health care professionals alike," senior researcher Dr. Padmanee Sharma, of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said in a meeting news release.
Sharma, a professor in the departments of genitourinary medical oncology and immunology, believes that the study results may "change the treatment of patients with advanced kidney cancer, whose disease has progressed on prior treatment."
In the new trial, Sharma's team compared Opdivo against Afinitor in more than 800 people with advanced kidney cancer. All of the patients had seen their tumor progress despite initial standard treatments.
Opdivo did seem to improve outcomes for patients, with median survival rising from 19.6 months for those taking Afinitor to 25 months among patients taking Opdivo, the researchers reported.
The gap between the two drugs shrank, however, when the study focused on what's known as "progression-free survival" -- time spent with the disease being in check. In that case, average progression-free survival was 4.6 months for those taking Opdivo, and 4.4 months for those on Afinitor, the study authors said.
The data also showed that a greater proportion of patients had tumor shrinkage if they were taking Opdivo compared to people on Afinitor.
Serious side effects occurred in 19 percent of patients taking Opdivo versus 37 percent of those taking Afinitor. The most common side effects were fatigue, nausea and severe itching among those taking Opdivo; and fatigue, anemia and inflammation of the mucous membranes of the mouth for those taking Afinitor, the researchers said.
New Drug Shows Promise For Advanced Kidney Cancer
Opdivo appears to outperform older med, Afinitor, in new clinical trial
FRIDAY, Sept. 25, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- A new drug that harnesses the power of the immune system to fight tumors appears to help people battling advanced kidney cancer, a new study finds.
The drug, Opdivo (nivolumab), outperformed a standard chemotherapy, Afinitor (everolimus), in terms of shrinking tumors and boosting patient survival, the study found.
The study was funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb, which makes Opdivo. It was to be presented Friday at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna, and is being published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The new findings "are significant and clinically meaningful to patients and health care professionals alike," senior researcher Dr. Padmanee Sharma, of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said in a meeting news release.
Sharma, a professor in the departments of genitourinary medical oncology and immunology, believes that the study results may "change the treatment of patients with advanced kidney cancer, whose disease has progressed on prior treatment."
In the new trial, Sharma's team compared Opdivo against Afinitor in more than 800 people with advanced kidney cancer. All of the patients had seen their tumor progress despite initial standard treatments.
Opdivo did seem to improve outcomes for patients, with median survival rising from 19.6 months for those taking Afinitor to 25 months among patients taking Opdivo, the researchers reported.
The gap between the two drugs shrank, however, when the study focused on what's known as "progression-free survival" -- time spent with the disease being in check. In that case, average progression-free survival was 4.6 months for those taking Opdivo, and 4.4 months for those on Afinitor, the study authors said.
The data also showed that a greater proportion of patients had tumor shrinkage if they were taking Opdivo compared to people on Afinitor.
Serious side effects occurred in 19 percent of patients taking Opdivo versus 37 percent of those taking Afinitor. The most common side effects were fatigue, nausea and severe itching among those taking Opdivo; and fatigue, anemia and inflammation of the mucous membranes of the mouth for those taking Afinitor, the researchers said.