Dr. Patel on CheckMate-227 Results in Advanced NSCLC

Jyoti D. Patel, MD, professor of medicine, director, Thoracic Oncology, University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the results of the CheckMate-227 trial, which looked at an immunotherapy combination versus chemotherapy in patients with advanced non—small cell lung cancer.

At the 2019 ESMO Congress, a presentation on the CheckMate-227 trial showed the comparison between nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) and chemotherapy alone, explains Patel. The immunotherapy combination reached statistical significance in patients with PD-L1 tumor proportion score >1%. Patients who did not have PD-L1 expression also benefited substantially from the nivolumab/ipilimumab regimen, according to Patel.

A significant number of complete responses with the combination were observed and the toxicity was well managed. These results will benefit patients who prefer a chemotherapy-free backbone, says Patel. Next, research must determine how to select patients for the immunotherapy doublet, concludes Patel.