At Year 3, Survival Curve of Ipilimumab-Treated Advanced Melanoma Begins to Plateau

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

According to a pooled analysis published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers have found that there is a plateau in the survival curve at 3 years for patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma treated with ipilimumab.

In order to determine a more precise estimate of long-term survival observed for those with advanced melanoma treated with ipilimumab, researchers performed a pooled analysis of overall survival using data from various phase 2 and 3 studies.

The researchers analyzed overall survival data for 1,861 patients from 12 studies of ipilimumab. Results showed a median overall survival of 11.4 months (95% CI: 10.7 - 12.1 months). Of those, 254 patients had at least 3 years of survival follow-up.

The researchers found that the survival curve began to level off at year 3. For all patients, the 3-year survival rate was 22% versus 26% for treatment-naive patients and 20% for previously treated patients.

When researchers included an additional 2,985 patients from an expanded access program, the median overall survival was 9.5 months (95% CI: 9.0 - 10.0 months). In that analysis, a plateau at 21% in the survival curve occurred beginning around year 3.

The authors note that the findings add to the evidence supporting the durability of long-term survival in patients with advanced melanoma treated with ipilimumab.