Trending News Today: Nivolumab, Ipilimumab Combo Extends Survival in Lung Cancer

An interim analysis of a phase 3 study of the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) met the main goal of extending overall survival (OS) in previously-untreated patients with lung cancer, Reuters reported. According to the article, the combination therapy, when administered alongside 2 courses of chemotherapy, demonstrated superior OS compared with chemotherapy alone in advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Data showed that approximately 40% of patients treated with the combination were alive after 2 years, the article reported.

A new study showed that fremanezumab clinically improved headache-related disability outcomes in patients with chronic migraines (CM) or episodic migraine (EM) who had inadequate response to 2 to 4 classes of migraine preventative medications, The American Journal of Managed Care reported. According to the article, the 12-week study was the largest of a migraine preventative treatment in a difficult-to-treat population of adults with both CM and EM and documented inadequate response to other medications. Results showed a significantly greater reduction from baseline during the 4 weeks after study drug administration versus placebo in the overall population, as well as in the CM and EM subgroups, the article reported.

FDA regulators have deemed Swedish Match tobacco pouches, a type of smokeless tobacco called “snus,” to be less harmful than cigarettes based on long-term, population-level data showing lower levels of lung cancer, emphysema, and other smoking-related disease, The Associated Press reported. According to the article, the pouches will still include mandatory government warnings, but the company will be able to advertise them as a risk-reduced tobacco product posing a lower risk of smoking-related diseases than cigarettes. The FDA stressed that their decision does not mean that the pouches are safe but are just less harmful, the article reported.