Bristol-Myers says panel finds Opdivo lung cancer study meets endpoint

[January 12, 2015]  (Reuters) - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co said the independent data monitoring committee concluded that a late stage study evaluating Opdivo versus docetaxel in previously treated patients with advanced, squamous cell non-small cell lung cancer met its endpoint.

The company said the data demonstrates superior overall survival in patients receiving Opdivo compared to the control arm, indicating a survival advantage with an anti-PD1 immune checkpoint inhibitor in lung cancer.

Bristol-Myers stopped the comparative portion of the trial and said it will share the data with health authorities.

Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Opdivo for skin cancer, more than three months before the scheduled review date.

Opdivo, or nivolumab, belongs to a promising new class of drugs designed to help the body's own immune system fight cancer by blocking a protein called Programmed Death receptor (PD-1).

(Reporting by Supriya Kurane in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

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