Nivolumab Plus Relatlimab: First Approval

Declarations

Funding The preparation of this review was not supported by any external funding.

Authorship and Conflict of interest Julia Paik is a salaried employee of Adis International Ltd/Springer Nature, and declares no relevant conflicts of interest. All authors contributed to the review and are responsible for the article content.

Ethics approval, Consent to participate, Consent to publish, Availability of data and material, Code availability not applicable

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Abstract

Nivolumab plus relatlimab (nivolumab and relatlimab-rmbw; Opdualag™) is a fixed-dose, combination immunotherapy treatment being developed by Bristol Myers Squibb for the treatment of multiple types of advanced cancers. Both drugs are immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) monoclonal antibodies developed to target immune checkpoints, with nivolumab targeting the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) receptor and relatlimab being a newly developed, first-in-class drug targeting the lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG-3) protein. In March 2022, nivolumab plus relatlimab received its first approval in the USA for the treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma in adult patients and paediatric patients aged ≥ 12 years who weigh ≥ 40 kg. This article summarizes the milestones in the development of this combination therapy leading to this first approval for unresectable or metastatic melanoma.  

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