checkmate-067 nivolumab oncology relativity-047

CheckMate-067: Raising the Bar for the Next Decade in Oncology

by Sarah A. Weiss, MD, and Harriet Kluger, MD

Dec 2^nd 2021
2 mins
Journal of Clinical Oncology: Volume 40, Number 2

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Summary

Historically, few effective systemic therapies were available for advanced melanoma, but recent advancements have led to significant progress.
In 2015, the US FDA approved the combination of ipilimumab and nivolumab based on the results of the CheckMate-067 trial.
CheckMate-067 demonstrated long-term durable benefits with improved overall survival (OS) and treatment-free survival (TFS) in patients receiving ipilimumab plus nivolumab.
The 6.5-year follow-up of CheckMate-067 showed a near-doubling of median OS in the combination arm (72.1 months) compared to nivolumab alone (36.9 months).
Although the combination therapy has higher toxicity and cost, its benefits in survival and TFS establish it as a new benchmark for advanced melanoma treatment.
Ongoing trials like DreamSeq and SECOMBIT are evaluating the optimal sequencing of ICI and targeted therapy in BRAF-mutant melanoma.
Future studies should focus on identifying biomarkers to select patients who can achieve similar outcomes with less toxic therapies.
Financial implications of ICI therapy are significant, and future trials should consider TFS and cost-effectiveness in their evaluations.
Despite the impressive results, 43% of patients on the dual-therapy arm had succumbed to their disease at 6.5 years, and efforts should continue to improve outcomes further.

Few effective systemic therapies were available for patients with advanced melanoma until recently, although durable complete responses were achieved in a small percentage of patients treated with high-dose interleukin-2. In 2015, results from the phase III CheckMate-067 trial led to US Food and Drug Administration approval of ipilimumab plus nivolumab, the first immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) combination for front-line treatment of advanced melanoma...

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