ASCO21: CheckMate 648 – single and dual immunotherapy improves overall survival for some esophageal cancer patients
The CheckMate 648 trial has shown that compared to standard of care chemotherapy, both a dual immunotherapy regimen (nivolumab plus ipilimumab) and a single immunotherapy agent (nivolumab) added to chemotherapy extends overall survival for patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, particularly those positive for the immune checkpoint protein PD-L1.
The Phase III randomized trial enrolled 970 patients with previously untreated, unresectable advanced, recurrent or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Overall survival was significantly better among all randomized patients with both nivolumab plus chemotherapy and nivolumab plus ipilimumab compared with chemotherapy alone —13.2, 12.8, and 10.7 months, respectively. The data was presented at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting (4–8 June 2021).
Additionally, progression-free survival with nivolumab plus chemotherapy was significantly better than with chemotherapy alone in patients with PD-L1 ≥ 1%. Adverse events and serious adverse events (≥ grade 3) were comparable between the three groups. Patients will continue to be followed for overall survival, progression-free survival and overall response rates.
“The clinically meaningful improvements in survival of these two treatment regimens highlight immunotherapy’s impact on cancer care and should bring new therapeutic options to a group of patients that are often diagnosed when disease has already spread,” explained lead author Ian Chau (Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, UK).
