|
 The drug combination also doubled patients' median length of time
before their cancer began to worsen to 16.6 months compared to
progression-free survival of 8.3 months for patients treated with
the chemotherapy sunitinib, an older Pfizer Inc drug sold under the
brand name Sutent.
"There is no doubt in my mind that this will be a major player" as
an initial treatment for advanced kidney cancer, said lead
researcher Dr. Toni Choueiri from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in
Boston.
He noted that the oncology community is already familiar with both
drugs and that the combination demonstrated positive results on all
the study's goals.
The Phase III study of 651 patients with advanced or metastatic
renal cell carcinoma was being presented as part of the European
Society for Medical Oncology meeting being held virtually this year.
A brief summary of the data, known as an abstract, was released on
Friday.
[to top of second column] |
Researchers said the safety of the combination was manageable and consistent
with the side effect profile of the two drugs when used individually.
Opdivo is one of Bristol’s top-selling drugs, with analysts forecasting nearly
$7 billion in sales this year.
The new data could help boost sales that have slowed in recent years as Opdivo
was eclipsed by Merck & Co’s rival drug Keytruda.
(Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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