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 Opdivo, which competes with Merck & Co's Keytruda, belongs to a
costly new class of medicines called PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors that
work by taking the brakes off the immune system.
The collaboration involves Nektar's NKTR-214, an experimental immuno-stimulatory
therapy designed to increase the expression of PD-1 on immune cells.
The trials will evaluate the potential for the combination to
improve on the current standard-of-care to treat melanoma and
cancers of the kidney, colorectal system, bladder and the most
common form of lung cancer.
Opdivo is already approved to treat advanced melanoma and lung
cancer, and is being studied for other cancers.
(Reporting by Natalie Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)
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