FIRST LINE TREATMENT OF UNRESECTABLE MALIGNANT PLEURAL MESOTHELIOMA WITH NIVOLUMAB PLUS IPILIMUMAB

Abstract

Over the past years, immune checkpoint inhibitors, which restore endogenous antitumour immune response, have radically changed the therapy paradigm of various localisation cancer. Nivolumab plus ipilimumab has shown durable overall survival benefit in melanoma, renal cell carcinoma and in non-small cell lung cancer. We present open-label, randomly assigned, phase 3 study CheckMate 743 results. The aim of this study was to evaluate nivolumab plus ipilimumab efficacy and safety for first-line unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) compared with platinum plus pemetrexed chemotherapy. The clinical trial enrolled 713 patients, of whom 605 met the criteria and were randomized to either the nivolumab plus ipilimumab group (n = 303) or the chemotherapy group. At the prespecified interim analysis, nivolumab plus ipilimumab significantly extended overall survival versus chemotherapy. According to this data, nivolumab plus ipilimumab has been approved in the USA for previously untreated unresectable MPM.