CHICAGONew phase 2 data suggest immunotherapy could stall mesothelioma progressionand that when it comes to Bristol-Myers Squibbs checkpoint inhibitors, two might be better than one.

Early results unveiled Monday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting showed that Bristols PD-1 med Opdivo and CTLA4 drug Yervoy slowed disease growth in patients with relapsed malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). At the 12-week mark, cancer hadnt worsened in 44% of patients treated with Opdivo and 50% of those treated with the Opdivo-Yervoy combo, Bristol said.

The two-drug combo edged Opdivo monotherapy elsewhere, too. Solo, Opdivo held off cancer progression for a median four months, while the tandem treatment staved off the advance of the disease for a median 5.6 months.And when it came to extending patients' lives, the Opdivo-only cohort posted a 10.4 month median overall survival, while patients taking theimmunotherapy duo hadnt yet hit the median.

RELATED: The top 15 best-selling cancer drugs in 2022- Opdivo

Those are big numbers, considering that MPM is a devastating disease that currently lacks treatment options, BMS oncology development head, Fouad Namouni, said in an interview.

I think its great news for patients and one more proof that combining agents and not being shy of tackling very difficult diseasesdiseases that I remember, back when, we called them the graveyard of drug developmentnow we are making them happen with combination therapies, he said.

RELATED:Adding Opdivo to Yervoy ups melanoma treatment efficacybut it ups rate of serious side effects, too

Opdivo and Yervoy already have one joint approval, and thats in inoperable or metastatic melanoma. Theyre under investigation together in other tumor types, though, too, including gastric cancer and bladder cancer.

I think we very early on at Bristol knew that its not going to be immunotherapy as a monotherapy that would bring the best survival benefits for patients, Namouni said. We very early on noticed that adding ... Yervoy to Opdivo will improve the response rates, improve the progression-free survival, and improve the survival, he said.

The key question for the one-two punch, though, is whether it can get the jobdone in first-line lung cancer.Now that Opdivo has failed in that setting as a monotherapyand rival med Keytruda has succeededtheres even more riding on the combo, which is now in testing as a first-line treatment,than there once was.

Follow this link:

Bristol-Myers Squibb's Opdivo, Yervoy put the brakes on mesothelioma in phase 2 - FiercePharma