Multinational phase 3 trial of nivolumab versus ipilimumab for resected stage III or IV melanoma: nine years follow-up of CheckMate 238

In the multinational phase 3 CheckMate 238 trial, patients with stage III or IV melanoma were randomized after resection to adjuvant nivolumab or adjuvant ipilimumab. Nine-year follow-up results of the trial have now been published. The median duration of recurrence-free survival was 61.1 months with nivolumab and 24.2 months with ipilimumab (HR 0.76; 95% CI 0.63-0.90) with 9-year rate of RFS 44% and 37%, respectively. The median duration of distant metastasis-free survival was more than 9 years with nivolumab and 83.3 months with ipilimumab (HR 0.81; 95% CI 0.65-1.00) with 9-year rate of DMFS 54% and 48%, respectively. Subsequent systemic therapy was administered to 37.3% of patients in the nivolumab group and 44.6% of patients in the ipilimumab group. The authors conclude that these 9-year data support a sustained finding of longer RFS with nivolumab than with ipilimumab.