Omid Hamid, MD, on Advanced Melanoma: Durable Response With Fianlimab Plus Cemiplimab

Omid Hamid, MD: This study enrolled patients with advanced or metastatic melanoma who had not seen anti-PD-1 antibody in the advanced stage. We treated these patients with melanoma in three cohorts with fianlimab, which is an anti-LAG-3 antibody and cemiplimab, an anti-PD-1 antibody at doses of 1,600 milligrams and 350 milligrams every three weeks. This is important because it's a higher dose of anti-LAG antibody and an increased frequency of dosing. There were three cohorts. The first cohort had patients who had seen a non-PD-1 prior therapy, the second had a treatment naive patients, and the third were for patients who had seen adjuvant PD-1 therapy and had more than six months without recurrence and then became advanced and were treated. What we saw in these patients in these sequentially accrued groups was a high response rate, 63%, 63%, and 56% in the prior adjuvant therapeutic group. The disease control rate was equally impressive, 80%, 80%, and 67%. The duration of response has not been reached in any of these cohorts. What we saw in terms of toxicity was consistent with prior PD-1 LAG-3 combinations with an increased incidence of manageable adrenal insufficiency. For me, the most important subset of patients here is the third cohort. For patients who had seen prior PD-1 in the adjuvant setting and then recurred after six months, we see a 62% response rate and a progression-free survival of 12 months. This is the best and highest response and control in patients who have seen prior PD-1 reported to date. The duration of response here has not been reached, and in all patients, a progression-free survival of 15 months was seen, which compares favorably in response rate, duration of response, toxicities, and progression-free survival of other cohorts of patients presented in relativity 47 or checkmate 67.