THURSDAY, Sept. 19, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with advanced melanoma, there is a survival benefit for nivolumab plus ipilimumab and for nivolumab monotherapy compared with ipilimumab monotherapy, according to a study published online Sept. 15 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with the annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology, held from Sept. 13 to 17 in Barcelona, Spain.

Jedd D. Wolchok, M.D., Ph.D., from the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center in New York City, and colleagues randomly assigned patients with previously untreated melanoma to receive nivolumab plus ipilimumab every three weeks for four doses followed by nivolumab every two weeks; nivolumab every two weeks plus placebo; or ipilimumab every three weeks for four doses plus placebo in a 1:1:1 ratio.

The researchers found that median overall survival was 71.9, 36.9, and 19.9 months with nivolumab plus ipilimumab, nivolumab, and ipilimumab, respectively, with a minimum follow-up of 10 years. The hazard ratio for death was 0.53 and 0.63 for nivolumab plus ipilimumab and for nivolumab versus ipilimumab, respectively. Median melanoma-specific survival was >120, 49.4, and 21.9 months with nivolumab plus ipilimumab, nivolumab, and ipilimumab, respectively. For patients alive and progression-free at three years, 10-year melanoma-specific survival was 96, 97, and 88 percent with nivolumab plus ipilimumab, nivolumab, and ipilimumab, respectively.

"These 10-year data underscore how immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy has helped to change the long-term prognosis for patients with advanced melanoma and highlight the potential for a cure in patients who have a response to this type of treatment," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including Bristol Myers Squibb, which manufactures nivolumab and funded the study.

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