Bristol-Myers star Opdivo fails survival test in a matchup with Nexavar aimed at shaking up the big HCC market
Bristol-Myers Squibb has suffered another painful setback in its years-long quest to expand the reach of Opdivo. The pharma giant this morning noted that their Checkmate-459 study comparing Opdivo with Bayer’s Nexavar in frontline cases of hepatocellular carcinoma — the most common form of liver cancer — failed to hit the primary endpoint on overall survival.
This was a significant milestone in Bristol-Myers’ tally of PD-1 catalysts this year. Nexavar (sorafenib) has been the standard of care in frontline HCC for the past decade, though Opdivo has been making headway in second-line HCC cases, where it’s going toe-to-toe with Bayer’s Stivarga (regorafenib) after recent approvals shook up the market.
Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.
You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.