This is nivolumab, a new drug against lung cancer that will be funded by the Ministry of Health and will increase survival.

He National health system approved funding for nivolumab (Opdivo) in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a high risk of recurrence, which may increase by twenty% survival and benefit more than 2,000 patients per year.

This is according to a statement from pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb, highlighting that the combination of nivolumab with platinum-based chemotherapy becomes the first neoadjuvant immunotherapy treatment option approved for Spanish patients.

According to Mariano Provencio Pulla, head Medical Oncology Service at the Puerta de Hierro University Hospital in Madrid (Spain) and President Spanish Lung Cancer Groupthe combination of chemotherapy and drug “represents a paradigm shift in the treatment” of this tumor type.

Who is it recommended for?

According to the pharmacist, the medicine is recommended for adult patients with lung cancer. non-small cell resectable with a high risk of relapse, whose tumors have the expression PD-L1≥1%.

The manufacturer says the drug’s inclusion in the public health funding pipeline is based on results from the phase 3 CheckMate -816 trial, which show that neoadjuvant treatment of NSCLC with nivolumab and platinum-based chemotherapy improved survival event-free and pathological complete response compared with platinum-based chemotherapy.

“We’re not just talking about including a drug. “This is a change in therapeutic strategy that involves many specialists: pathologists, surgeons, oncologists or radiotherapists,” assured Provencio, emphasizing that this represents an improvement.”significant after decades of no progress.”