Higher Dose Combo to Treat Bladder Cancer.

An immunotherapy combination with a higher dose of ipilimumab produced a 38% overall response rate for patients with metastatic bladder cancer in a clinical trial led by investigators at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, that examined singleagent nivolumab and two combinations of the immune checkpoint inhibitors. The results were published by the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"The approval of single-agent PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors for bladder cancer in 2017 was an important step forward, but it will take combination therapies to extend the impact of these drugs to more of our patients," says study leader Padmanee Sharma, professor of genitourinary medical oncology.

The 38% overall response rate is higher than any previously reported in studies of single-agent immunotherapies, which...