Key clinical point : The addition of nivolumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy is more efficacious than and comparably safe compared to chemotherapy alone in patients with stage IB-IIIA resectable nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Major finding : The nivolumab plus chemotherapy vs chemotherapy-alone group demonstrated longer event-free survival (31.6 vs 20.8 months; hazard ratio 0.63; P = .005) and had a higher proportion of patients achieving pathological complete response (24.0% vs 2.2%; odds ratio 13.94; P < .001). The rates of grade 3/4 treatment-related adverse events were comparable between the groups (33.5% vs 36.9%).
Study details : The data come from an open-label phase 3 CheckMate 816 trial which included patients with resectable NSCLC who were randomly assigned to receive neoadjuvant nivolumab plus platinum-doublet chemotherapy (n = 179) or platinum-doublet chemotherapy alone (n = 179).
Disclosures: The trial was funded by Bristol Myers Squibb. The authors reported ties with one or more pharmaceutical companies outside this work, including Bristol Myers Squibb.
Source: Forde PM et al. Neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy in resectable lung cancer. N Engl J Med. 2022 (Apr 11). Doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2202170