The FDA approved Opdivo to treat a type of kidney cancer. The next
day, the agency gave the nod for the same drug to be used to treat an
advanced skin cancer.
That's the sixth approval this year for Opdivo, an injection that
helps the immune system fight cancer cells. This particular
immuno-oncology drug is a programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) blocking antibody. Immunotherapies works to attack cancer cells using the body's own immune system, unlike chemotherapy and radiation that kills both cancerous and healthy cells.
The drug was originally approved in December to treat metastatic melanoma in patients that had already had treatment.
The drug is
also approved to treat lung cancer and patients with advance melanoma
that have received treatment. Sales of Opdivo had reached $467 million
in the first nine months of the year, with most of that coming in the
three months through Sept. 30.
Bristol-Myers Squibb is still in clinical trials to see if there are more tumor types that Opdivo can treat.
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