Bristol-Myers Squibb and Incyte are undertaking registrational trials of the tandem use of Opdivo (nivolumab) and epacadostat as an initial treatment for two types of cancer.
The companies will get the two medicines into phase 3 tests that will measure how they work as an initial treatment for non-small cell lung cancer in patients and as an initial treatment for head and neck cancer,Bristol-Myers Squibb said in a release. These tests will be phase 3 tests.
Epacadostat manages how the immune system fights tumors by stopping Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) and bringing back systems that the immune system uses to fight tumor growth. Opdivo works similarly and tries to use the immune system to bring back what the immune system normally uses to fight tumors.
There are currently over 25,000 people involved in testing Opdivo in tests of it fighting different cancers.
Bristol-Myers Squibb and Incyte are also adding to their ECHO 204 Phase 1/2 test that they started in 2014 to include people fighting melanoma.
