Azacitidine and nivolumab combo proves successful in phase II trial

A combination of chemotherapy drug azacitidine and nivolumab (Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo) has proven effective in treating patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in a phase II trial, led by Professor Naval Daver the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The phase II trial demonstrated that 22% of the 70 patients went into complete remission following the combination treatment. While participants had on average already undergone two prior treatments for relapsed AML, the response rate was 33% overall.

However around 11% of patients suffered from severe or potentially life threatening side effects, the majority of which were treated successfully. The average overall survival was just over 6 months. Due to the encouraging results, researchers have initiated a phase III trial.

Daverat commented: "We believe that implementation of clinical and immune biomarkers to select patients are likely to yield further improved outcomes with these types of therapies in AML.

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