Philadelphia- The combination of two drugs, by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) proves to be effective in treating melanoma, than taking them individually.
This was found by a study, which was reported on Monday. However, it could prove to be a costlier option for the patients, even though it is an effective one. The researchers were able to say that the skin-cancer tumors had shrank in 59% of patients, who were treated with Opdivo and Yervoy. Both of these are produced by Bristol-Myers Squibb. In contrast to this number, only 11% treated with Yervoy alone had shown positive results.
The study was performed on 142 patients, who were in the mid-stage of the cancer. Out of these 142 patients, 22% showed a complete response, which meant that researchers could not detect any physical signs of cancer. However, more than half of the patients, who were treated with both the drugs, had reported to have serious side effects.
The test merely represents the effort, which is being made to test the combination of more than one treatments involving immunotherapy drugs. This is expected to benefit patients with advanced melanoma as well. The results seem to be complying with a smaller study, which was made couple of years ago. Researchers were also encouraged by these results.
Stephen Hodi, the Director of the Melanoma Center of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute said that these combination treatments are now being majorly discussed with the patients. The institute is located on Boston. Hodi had reported these findings at the American Association for Cancer Research during the annual meeting. The study was also published on the New England Journal of Medicine.
The side effects are a serious concern though. However, researcher seemto have developed a strategy to deal with these side effects. Nevertheless, it is essential to consider that three patients have died of causes, which were potentially related to the way of treating the melanoma.
