FDA Approval Summary: Nivolumab in Combination with Ipilimumab for the Treatment of Unresectable Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

On October 2, 2020, FDA approved nivolumab with ipilimumab as first-line treatment for adult patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). The approval was based on results from Study CA209743 (CHECKMATE-743), an open-label trial of patients with MPM randomized to receive nivolumab and ipilimumab for up to 2 years (n = 303) or six cycles of chemotherapy with cisplatin or carboplatin plus pemetrexed (n = 302). Overall survival (OS) was improved for patients who received nivolumab and ipilimumab, with a median OS of 18.1 months [95% confidence interval (CI), 16.8–21.5] compared with 14.1 months (95% CI: 12.5–16.2; HR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.61–0.89; P = 0.002), for patients who received chemotherapy. The magnitude of benefit was larger for patients with non-epithelioid versus epithelioid histology. Additional clinical pharmacology data support an alternative dosing regimen of nivolumab than evaluated in the trial, which will reduce the number of required treatment visits. This application was reviewed under FDA's Project Orbis, in collaboration with Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration, Switzerland's Swissmedic, Health Canada, and Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency or ANVISA (Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária). Nivolumab and ipilimumab is the first drug regimen approved by FDA for MPM since 2004.