A drug that helps the immune system fight cancer gave dramatic results when used with chemotherapy before surgery in patients with operable lung tumors, doctors report.
One out of 4 patients given chemo and the Bristol Myers Squibb drug Opdivo had no signs of cancer remaining once they ultimately had surgery, a study of about 350 such people found. “They open the person up and the tumor’s just melted away.
It’s incredible,” said Dr. Roy Herbst, a lung specialist at the Yale Cancer Center. He had no role in the study, whose results were reported Saturday at an American Association for Cancer Research conference, but has consulted for the maker of Opdivo and other cancer drugs.