
Fouad Namouni, MD
The European Commission has approved a 4-week dosing schedule for nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma and previously treated renal cell carcinoma (RCC), according to Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), the manufacturer of the PD-1 inhibitor.
Physicians can now prescribe the new dosing schedule of 480 mg of nivolumab infused every 30 minutes every 4 weeks for these approved indications:
- Metastatic melanoma (monotherapy or monotherapy phase after combination treatment with ipilimumab [Yervoy])
- Previously treated metastatic NSCLC
- Advanced RCC following prior antiangiogenic therapy
- Previously treated locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma following disease progression during or after platinum-based chemotherapy
- Classical Hodgkin lymphoma following relapse/progression after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and brentuximab vedotin, or three or more lines of systemic therapy that includes autologous HSCT
- Recurrent/metastatic HNSCC following platinum-based therapy
- Hepatocellular carcinoma after prior sorafenib therapy
- Adjuvant therapy for patients with completely resected melanoma with lymph node involvement or metastatic disease.
Physicians now have the option of using either the new 4-week dosing schedule or the previously approved schedule of 240 mg every 2 weeks, now available in a new 240 mg vial.
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