Dual immunotherapy for bowel cancer now available under NHS
Ella Day | April 23, 2025 | News story | Research and Development | Bristol Myer Squibb, MHRA, NICE, Oncology, bowel cancer, colorectal cancer, immunotherapy
Dual immunotherapy, a combination of Opdivo (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilimumab), has been granted extension in the UK by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). It is now a treatment option via NHS-funded commissioning, marking a major milestone for treating patients with a rare form of colorectal, or bowel, cancer.
Produced by Bristol Myer Squibb (BMS), the nivolumab-ipilimumab treatment addresses patients with mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) or microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). This affects approximately 4-7% of mCRC patients.
Both the MHRA and NICE actions follow a successful pursuit of International Recognition Procedure (IRP) based on data from BMS’s phase 3 CheckMate 8HMW trial. It demonstrated the effectiveness of the dual immunotherapy, specifically that progression-free survival (PFS) at 24 months was 72% with nivolumab-ipilimumab versus 14% with chemotherapy in the first line setting.
Those with dMMR or MSI-H tumours are less likely to benefit from conventional chemotherapy and typically have poor prognosis. Patients “historically have some of the worst outcomes of any colorectal cancer patients,” according to Jenny Seligmann, consultant medical oncologist and senior lecturer at the University of Leeds, UK.
Dr Kai-Keen Shiu, consultant medical oncologist at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, commented on the approval: ”It offers a meaningful alternative to existing treatments and improved quality of life for these patients versus chemotherapy.”
Ella Day
23/4/25
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