In today’s episode, we spoke with David Carbone, MD, PhD. Dr Carbone is a professor of internal medicine at The Ohio State University, co-leader of the Translational Therapeutics Program and director of the Thoracic Oncology Center at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–James, as well as the Barbara J. Bonner Chair in Lung Cancer Research in Columbus.
In our exclusive interview, Dr Carbone discussed the 6-year data from the phase 3 CheckMate 9LA trial (NCT03215706), which not only reaffirmed the durability of benefit with nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) and chemotherapy but also highlighted particularly strong outcomes in historically poor-prognosis subgroups, including patients with PD-L1–negative tumors and those with squamous histology. Carbone also underscored the safety and tolerability of the regimen. Although dual immunotherapy carries higher toxicity than monotherapy, no new safety signals emerged at 6 years. Carbone also addressed the limitations of current biomarkers. Although PD-L1 remains the primary tool guiding immunotherapy decisions, it is an imperfect predictor.
