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Nivolumab: A Review in Advanced Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

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Abstract

Nivolumab (Opdivo®; Nivolumab BMS™) was the first programmed death (PD)-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor to be approved for use in advanced, squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following prior chemotherapy. In the pivotal CheckMate 017 trial, intravenous nivolumab 3 mg/kg every 2 weeks was associated with significantly better overall survival and progression-free survival and a significantly higher overall response rate than intravenous docetaxel in the second-line treatment of advanced, squamous NSCLC. Nivolumab was also better tolerated than docetaxel in CheckMate 017, and its adverse event profile (which included immune-mediated adverse events) was manageable. In conclusion, nivolumab represents an important advance in previously-treated, advanced, squamous NSCLC.

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Acknowledgments

During the peer review process, the manufacturer of nivolumab was also offered an opportunity to review this article. Changes resulting from comments received were made on the basis of scientific and editorial merit.

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    Gillian M. Keating

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  1. Gillian M. Keating
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Correspondence to Gillian M. Keating.

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The preparation of this review was not supported by any external funding.

Conflicts of interest

Gillian Keating is a salaried employee of Adis/Springer, is responsible for the article content and declares no relevant conflicts of interest.

Additional information

The manuscript was reviewed by: J. G. Aerts, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; C. Chouaïd, Service de Pneumologie, GRC Onco Paris Est, UPEC, CHI Créteil, Créteil, France; L. Crinò, Division of Medical Oncology, Santa Maria della Misericordia Hospital, Azienda Ospedaliera di Perugia, Perugia, Italy; J. Mazières, Thoracic Oncology Department, Larrey Hospital, University Hospital of Toulouse, University of Toulouse III (Paul Sabatier), Toulouse, France; A. Pluzanski, Lung Cancer Department, Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Centre and Institute of Oncology, Warsaw, Poland.

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Keating, G.M. Nivolumab: A Review in Advanced Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Drugs 75, 1925–1934 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40265-015-0492-9

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