Cancer treatment is changing with the development of new agents that work through the immune system. A combination of two of the newer drugs, ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab (Opdivo), works better than either one alone in treating advanced melanoma.
The study presented at the meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research included 72 patients who received both drugs compared to 27 who received only Yervoy. The overall response rate, judged by tumor shrinkage, was 61 percent in the combination therapy group and 11 percent among those getting Yervoy alone.
People taking both agents also had a much longer time in remission before their cancer got worse.
AACR, Philadelphia, April 20,2015; New England Journal of Medicine online Apr. 20, 2015
