What happened
The latest clinical news from Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY -8.51%) was quite encouraging, sufficient to drive the pharmaceutical giant's stock higher on an otherwise uninspired day for the broader stock market. Bristol Myers Squibb's share price experienced a nearly 2% bump, a notably better showing than the S&P 500 index's more than 1% decline.
So what
Bristol Myers Squibb's good news from the lab was that its enduringly popular cancer drug Opdivo did quite well in its latest round of testing. Said testing was the phase 3 CheckMate-76K trial evaluating the drug as a stand-alone treatment in the adjuvant setting for patients with completely resected stage IIB/C melanoma -- a form of the most serious type of skin cancer.
The pharmaceutical company said that Opdivo met its primary endpoint in the trial, and "demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful benefit in recurrence-free survival (RFS) versus placebo at a pre-specified interim analysis."
Bristol Myers Squibb added that no new safety signals were observed during the trial.
CheckMate-76K is part of a series of trials for Opdivo, as both a monotherapy and in combination with other drugs, in fighting earlier stages of cancer. This research currently involves seven types of tumors.
Now what
In its press release unveiling the results of the trial, Bristol Myers Squibb pointed out that stage IIB/C melanoma patients face a high risk of recurrence. Therefore, the company quoted its melanoma program lead Gina Fusaro as saying, "Treating with Opdivo in earlier stages of cancer, when the immune system may be more responsive, has the potential to help prevent recurrence -- a critical goal of improving patient outcomes."
Any advancement in the battle against cancer -- particularly a widespread one such as melanoma -- is certainly a victory for medical science. As such, this particular study is a win for both Opdivo and its developer.
