Bristol Myers Squibb, a global biopharmaceutical company, announced today that its flagship cancer drug Opdivo has shown long term durable benefits in lung cancer patients.
The study was conducted on 299 patients diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had previously received chemotherapy. The results showed that after five years of treatment with Opdivo, 25% of the patients were still alive without disease progression.
"This is an important milestone for the treatment of NSCLC," said Dr. John Smith, Chief Medical Officer at Bristol Myers Squibb. "These results demonstrate the long-term benefits and durability of response to Opdivo in this patient population."
Opdivo works by blocking a protein called PD-1 on immune cells, which allows them to recognize and attack cancer cells more effectively. It was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2014 for advanced melanoma and has since been approved for several other types of cancers.
The drug's success has made it one of Bristol Myers Squibb's top-selling drugs, generating over $7 billion in sales last year alone.
"These results reinforce our commitment to advancing innovative treatments that address unmet needs for people living with cancer," said Giovanni Caforio, Chairman and CEO at Bristol Myers Squibb.
According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer is currently the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. The new data from this study provides hope for those battling this deadly disease.
Bristol Myers Squibb plans to present these findings at upcoming medical conferences and is continuing research on how to improve outcomes even further for NSCLC patients using Opdivo.