BACKGROUND Nivolumab plus ipilimumab produced objective responses in patients with advanced renal-cell carcinoma in a pilot study. This phase 3 trial compared nivolumab plus ipilimumab with sunitinib for previously untreated clear-cell advanced renal-cell carcinoma. METHODS We randomly assigned adults in a 1:1 ratio to receive either nivolumab (3 mg per kilogram of body weight) plus ipilimumab (1 mg per kilogram) intravenously every 3 weeks for four doses, followed by nivolumab (3 mg per kilogram) every 2 weeks, or sunitinib (50 mg) orally once daily for 4 weeks (6-week cycle). The coprimary end points were overall survival (alpha level, 0.04), objective response rate (alpha level, 0.001), and progression-free survival (alpha level, 0.009) among patients with intermediate or poor prognostic risk. RESULTS A total of 1096 patients were assigned to receive nivolumab plus ipilimumab (550 patients) or sunitinib (546 patients); 425 and 422, respectively, had intermediate or poor risk. At a median follow-up of 25.2 months in intermediate- and poor-risk patients, the 18-month overall survival rate was 75% (95% confidence interval [CI], 70 to 78) with nivolumab plus ipilimumab and 60% (95% CI, 55 to 65) with sunitinib; the median overall survival was not reached with nivolumab plus ipilimumab versus 26.0 months with sunitinib (hazard ratio for death, 0.63; P<0.001). The objective response rate was 42% versus 27% (P<0.001), and the complete response rate was 9% versus 1%. The median progression-free survival was 11.6 months and 8.4 months, respectively (hazard ratio for disease progression or death, 0.82; P = 0.03, not significant per the prespecified 0.009 threshold). Treatment-related adverse events occurred in 509 of 547 patients (93%) in the nivolumab-plus-ipilimumab group and 521 of 535 patients (97%) in the sunitinib group; grade 3 or 4 events occurred in 250 patients (46%) and 335 patients (63%), respectively. Treatment-related adverse events leading to discontinuation occurred in 22% and 12% of the patients in the respective groups. CONCLUSIONS Overall survival and objective response rates were significantly higher with nivolumab plus ipilimumab than with sunitinib among intermediate- and poor-risk patients with previously untreated advanced renal-cell carcinoma. (Funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Ono Pharmaceutical; CheckMate 214 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02231749.)

Nivolumab was not associated with significantly longer progression-free survival than chemotherapy among patients with previously untreated stage IV or recurrent NSCLC with a PD-L1 expression level of 5% or more. Overall survival was similar between groups. Nivolumab had a favorable safety profile, as compared with chemotherapy, with no new or unexpected safety signals. (Funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb and others; CheckMate 026 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02041533 .).

Purpose Nivolumab, a fully human immunoglobulin G4 programmed death-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor antibody, has demonstrated improved survival in previously treated patients with advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). CheckMate 012, a phase I, multicohort study, was conducted to explore the safety and efficacy of nivolumab as monotherapy or combined with current standard therapies in first-line advanced NSCLC. Here, we report results for nivolumab plus platinum-based doublet chemotherapy (PT-DC). Patients and Methods Patients (N = 56) received nivolumab (intravenously) plus PT-DC concurrently every 3 weeks for four cycles followed by nivolumab alone until progression or unacceptable toxicity. Regimens were nivolumab 10 mg/kg plus gemcitabine-cisplatin (squamous) or pemetrexed-cisplatin (nonsquamous) or nivolumab 5 or 10 mg/kg plus paclitaxel-carboplatin (all histologies). The primary objective was to assess safety and tolerability. Secondary objectives included objective response rate and 24-week progression-free survival rate (per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1); exploratory objectives included overall survival (OS) and response by tumor programmed death ligand-1 expression. Results No dose-limiting toxicities occurred during the first 6 weeks of treatment. Forty-five percent of patients (25 of 56 patients) reported grade 3 or 4 treatment-related adverse events (AEs); 7% of patients (n = 4) had pneumonitis. Twenty-one percent of patients (n = 12) discontinued all study therapy as a result of treatment-related AEs. Objective response rates for nivolumab 10 mg/kg plus gemcitabine-cisplatin, nivolumab 10 mg/kg plus pemetrexed-cisplatin, nivolumab 10 mg/kg plus paclitaxel-carboplatin, and nivolumab 5 mg/kg plus paclitaxel-carboplatin were 33%, 47%, 47%, and 43%, respectively; 24-week progression-free survival rates were 51%, 71%, 38%, and 51%, respectively; 2-year OS rates were 25%, 33%, 27%, and 62%, respectively. Responses were achieved regardless of tumor programmed death ligand-1 expression. Conclusion The safety profile of nivolumab plus PT-DC was consistent with that expected for individual agents; however, treatment discontinuation related to AEs was greater with the combination. Encouraging activity was observed, especially for the nivolumab 5 mg/kg plus paclitaxel-carboplatin group, with a 2-year OS rate of 62%.