LONDON (ShareCast) - Clinical data unveiled on Sunday on occasion of the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual conference in Chicago showed that a combination of two immunotherapy drugs made by global biopharmaceutical Bristol-Myers Squibb could rise the chances of surviving skin cancer.
This combination was found to be more potent against melanoma that a single treatment, although side effects rise too.

A trial carried out on 945 patients showed that the combination of Bistol-Myers' Opdivo and Yervoy treatments made 52% of the tumours shrink. Nevertheless, a third of the patients on the combined therapy had to stop the treatment due to the side-effects.

"Historically, treatment options for lung cancer patients have been limited. The Opdivo data presented today offer patients the first major advance in the treatment of squamous non-small cell lung cancer in more than a decade," said David Spigel, MD, Sarah Cannon Research Institute in a statement on Sunday.

Doctors stress the importance of immunotherapy, as it harnesses the power of the immune system to attack cancer.



"Immunotherapy drugs have already revolutionised melanoma treatment, and now we're seeing how they might be even more powerful when combined," said oncologist Dr Steven O'Day at the Beverly Hills Cancer Center.

O'Day also warned about the effects of this therapy: "the results also warrant caution. The combination used in this study came with greater side effects, which might offset its benefits for some patients."

Astrazeneca was also said to have achieved progress in the fight against lung cancer, through its EDI4736 and Tremelimumab immunotherapies. On ocassion of the conference, the company pointed out that the combination of both drugs reduced the size of tumours by at least 30% in about a third of cases.

AstraZeneca said it would now carry out a large "Phase III" trial, which is normally the last stage in clinical development before seeking for regulatory approval.

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