Robert Hadley | Apr 10, 2017

Bristol-Myers Squibb to contunue testing Opdivo for brain tumors

Despite the unsuccessful results CheckMate-143, a late-round test of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo to treat aggressive brain tumors, Bristol-Myers Squibb said in a release it is continuing other tests of the drug paired with other treatments.

Bristol-Myers Squibb made the announcement April 3 in advance of a May 7 presentation at the World Federation of Neuro-Oncology Societies in Zurich.

In Checkmate-143, Opdivo was show ineffective as a sole treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a type of brain tumor that rapidly metastasizes, according to the American Brain Tumor Association.

In the announcement, Dr. Fouad Namouni, Bristol-Myers’ head of oncology development and medical divisions, said the company would continue to battle the disease.

“GBM is a historically difficult disease to treat and conventional treatment options have demonstrated limited responses,” Namouni said in the release. “We remain steadfast in our pursuit of treatments for diseases with the highest unmet need and continue our work to determine how our immuno-oncology agents can potentially improve outcomes for these patients.”

Ongoing tests, CheckMate-498 and CheckMate 548, will assess results with Opdivo combined with radiation and of Opdivo combined with other substances, the release said.

Bristol-Myers Squibb, a worldwide pharma company, developed Opdivo to help patients’ immune systems to battle cancer. The FDA has authorized the drug to treat BRAF V600 melanoma, characterized as an aggressive form of skin cancer by the Mayo Clinic in New York.

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