Dr. Singh Discusses Immunotherapy Study in GIST

Arun S. Singh, MD, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, discusses the rationale behind a randomized phase II study (NCT02880020) of nivolumab (Opdivo) monotherapy versus nivolumab with ipilimumab (Yervoy) in patients with metastatic or unresectable gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST).

GIST is a rare group of tumors that can start anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract. The 2 most common locations are in the stomach and the small intestine. Traditionally, they are treated with surgery but more advanced GISTs are treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).

Currently, there are 3 drugs that are FDA approved for the treatment of patients with GISTs, including imatinib (Gleevec), sunitinib (Sutent), and regorafenib (Stivarga). However, there are new exciting compounds in clinical trials, says Singh.

The nivolumab combination study is one of the few immunotherapy studies in this space, explains Singh. The trial aims to determine the overall response rate of the combination compared to nivolumab alone.