ANZGOG awards BMS combo study in rare cancers

Pharma News: The hybrid model of this year’s ANZGOG’s Annual Scientific Meeting brought together national and international experts in gynaecological medicine, radiation and surgical oncology, pathology, basic scientists, translational and quality of life researchers, study coordinators and nurses, as well as pharmaceutical industry partners.

Dr Oliver Klein, Department of Medical Oncology, Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre, Austin Health, and Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute in Melbourne was awarded the Best Main Conference Abstract on the combination immunotherapy with Opdivo (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilimumab) in patients with rare gynaecological malignancies.

Patients with rare cancers represent 55% of all gynaecological malignancies and have poor survival outcomes due to limited treatment options. Combination immunotherapy with anti-PD-1 Opdivo and the anti-CTLA-4 Yervoy demonstrated significant clinical efficacy across a range of common malignancies, justifying evaluation of this combination in rare gynaecological cancers.

This multicentre phase II study enrolled 43 patients with advanced rare gynaecological cancers. Durable responses were seen across a range of tumour histologies. Thirty-one (72%) patients experienced an immune-related adverse event (irAE) with a grade 3/4 irAE observed in seven (16%) patients. Response rate was higher among those patients with baseline PD-L1 expression (≥1% on tumour cells) but was independent of tumour  mutational burden (TMB).

The authors concluded “Ipilimumab and nivolumab combination treatment has significant clinical activity with a favourable safety profile across a range of advanced rare gynaecological malignancies and warrants further investigation in these tumour types.”

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