First new medication in nearly two decades approved specifically for aggressive form of lung cancer

Accounting for 10% to 15% of all lung cancers, small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is difficult to treat and has a poor prognosis. For patients with advanced disease, the estimated five-year survival rate is about 2%. The FDA just approved a new therapy — one that works with the body’s immune system to help fight cancer — for certain patients with SCLC whose cancer has progressed following two prior lines of treatment. Learn more.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Approves Opdivo® (nivolumab) as the First New Medication in Nearly 20 Years for Certain Patients with Previously Treated Small Cell Lung Cancer

Opdivo is now the first Immuno-Oncology treatment approved for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients who received platinum-based chemotherapy and at least one other line of therapy
Approval based on overall response rate and duration of response from the SCLC cohort of the Phase 1/2 CheckMate -032 trial ¹