Updated results from the phase 3 CheckMate-025 study, presented at the 16th International Kidney Cancer Symposium in Miami, USA last week, show a three-year survival benefit of nivolumab (Opdivo) over everolimus (Afinitor) in advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The risk of death was also reduced by 26% for the people taking nivolumab.

CheckMate-025 evaluated previously treated advanced RCC patients treated with nivolumab versus everolimus. The data are the first of any anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) agent to demonstrate durable survival at three years in previously treated RCC. Nivolumab was well tolerated and the data showed a safety profile consistent with the two-year results.

Median overall survival (OS) for nivolumab was 25.8 months compared to 19.7 months with everolimus. The three-year OS rate was 39% for nivolumab and 30% for everolimus.

“The updated results of CheckMate-025 reinforce the overall survival benefit and safety profile of Opdivo and provide further support for this therapeutic option as a standard of care for patients with previously treated advanced renal cell carcinoma,” said Dr Padmanee Sharma, scientific director, Immunotherapy Platform, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas, USA.

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