Bristol-Myers Squibb melanoma drug meets target in trial

Bristol-Myers Squibb has published new clinical trial data which demonstrates the potential applications of ipilimumab, its investigational metastatic melanoma treatment.

According to results from the phase III trial, overall survival rates among patients with previously-treated metastatic melanoma receiving ipilimumab were significantly improved compared to those receiving gp100 peptide vaccine therapy alone.

This means that the treatment was able to meet its primary efficacy endpoint in the study, which was conducted over the course of two years.

It represents the first time that such an improvement in survival rates has been observed among previously-treated advanced melanoma patients in a large-scale phase III trial.

Dr F Stephen Hodi, the study’s lead author, said: “Results from this ipilimumab study are exciting and show the potential of harnessing the immune system to treat cancers like metastatic melanoma.”

The data was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, where Bristol-Myers Squibb is also highlighting new studies on drugs such as Erbitux and Ixempra.