Immunotherapy plus Chemotherapy Before Surgery Improves Outcomes in Lung Cancer

In the phase 3 industry-supported CheckMate 816 trial, researchers randomized 358 patients with stage IB to IIIA resectable non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to three cycles of platinum-doublet chemotherapy plus either the anti–PD-1 antibody nivolumab or placebo, followed by surgery. Eligible patients had no known activating mutations in the EGFR or ALK genes. Coprimary endpoints were event-free survival and pathologic complete response.

Median event-free survival was 31.6 months in the nivolumab-chemotherapy arm versus 20.8 months in the chemotherapy-alone arm (hazard ratio for disease progression, disease recurrence, or death, 0.63; P=0.005). Pathologic complete response was achieved by 24.0% of patients receiving nivolumab plus chemother…