Bristol-Myers's Opdivo Extends Survival in Head, Neck Cancer
- Drug lengthened median survival to 7.5 months from 5.1 months
- One-year survival was 36% for Opdivo, 17% for current therapy
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Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s blockbuster cancer drug Opdivo prolonged survival in cases of recurrent head and neck cancer, a first for patients with the harshest form of the disease who often face a bleak prognosis.
Doctors studied Opdivo, already approved to treat melanoma and lung tumors, among patients whose cancer had returned and worsened even after treatment with chemotherapy or Eli Lilly & Co.’s Erbitux, which was originally developed with Bristol-Myers. About 36 percent of patients on Opdivo were alive after one year, compared with just 17 percent of those getting the standard treatments, said lead researcher Maura Gillison, chair of cancer research at Ohio State University in Columbus.