Nivolumab/relatlimab in melanoma: a profile of its use

<p>  </p> <p><strong>Declarations</strong></p> <p><strong>Funding</strong> The preparation of this review was not supported by any external funding.</p> <p><strong>Authorship and conflict of interest</strong> A. Lee 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.</p> <p><strong>Ethics approval, Consent to participate, Consent for publication, Availability of data and material, Code availability</strong> Not applicable. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Additional information about this Adis Drug Review can be found <a href="http://www.springer.com/gp/adis/products-services/adis-journals-newsletters/adis-drug-reviews" target="_blank">here</a></p> <p>  </p> <p><strong>Abstract </strong></p> <p>Nivolumab and relatlimab-rmbw (Opdualag™; hereafter referred to as nivolumab/relatlimab) is a fixed dose combination of monoclonal antibodies for infusion, which expands the number of available therapies against advanced melanoma in patients aged ≥ 12 years. Dual checkpoint inhibition of programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) by nivolumab and lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG-3) by relatlimab may stimulate an immune response against tumours. Notably, relatlimab is the first approved treatment targeting LAG-3. Nivolumab/relatlimab significantly decreased the risk of disease progression or death in comparison with nivolumab monotherapy during a phase 2/3 trial. The incidence of grade 3 or 4 adverse events was higher with nivolumab/relatlimab than with nivolumab monotherapy; however, no new safety signals were detected during the trial. As with other checkpoint inhibitors, immune-mediated reactions were reported with nivolumab/relatlimab treatment, which may be managed with treatment discontinuation or systemic immunosuppressants. </p> <p><br></p> <p> <strong>©</strong> Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 </p>