Dr. Borghaei Discusses the Results of CheckMate-227 in NSCLC

Hossein Borghaei, DO, MS, chief, Division of Thoracic Medical Oncology, director, Lung Cancer Risk Assessment, associate professor, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center, discusses the results of the CheckMate-227 trial in non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

CheckMate-227 is a phase III study of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus platinum-doublet chemotherapy versus chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for patients with advanced NSCLC who have <1% PD-L1 tumor expression. Results showed that the addition of nivolumab to chemotherapy did improve progression-free survival in this population, but the responses were not durable. Borghaei says that durability of response is something that has been seen in other immunotherapy-based studies, and is a factor that investigators believe is important in determining the activity of the drug.

Tumor mutational burden (TMB) is a biomarker that has been studied in patients with NSCLC. Particularly, patients with high TMB have demonstrated a greater benefit with nivolumab plus ipilimumab (Yervoy), as well as nivolumab plus chemotherapy. Borghaei says that TMB may be a good way to select patients with NSCLC for treatment with immunotherapy agents.