Dr. Hoos Discusses Key Points of the Ipilimumab Trial

Axel Hoos, MD, PhD, the medical lead in Immunology/Oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb discusses key points of the ipilimumab phase III trial looking at patients with untreated metastatic melanoma; a separate trial studied pretreated patients. The trial looked at the long-term survival in patients treated with ipilimumab with or without combination with dacarbazine. The combination therapy was more successful in terms of a survival benefit. Patients saw durable responses in the form of a shrinking tumor size for a median of 19 months compared to 8 months in the control; a PFS survival was also noted.