Combined Nivolumab and Ipilimumab or Monotherapy for Untreated Melanoma

Antibodies that target immune checkpoint molecules have been the latest development in a string of successful treatments for melanoma. The relative benefits of ipilimumab and nivolumab were analyzed in a head-to-head trial of these two agents, singly and in combination.

Larkin and colleagues randomized 945 previously untreated patients with unresectable stage III/IV melanoma to nivolumab alone, nivolumab plus ipilimumab, or ipilimumab alone. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 2.9 months (95% confidence interval, 2.8–3.4) with ipilimumab, 6.9 months (95% CI, 4.3–9.5) with nivolumab, and 11.5 months (95% CI, 8.9–16.7) with nivolumab plus ipilimumab. Both nivolumab and nivolumab+ipilimumab demonstrated a statistically significant PF…