Opdivo and others in its class work by removing a brake that cancer puts on the immune system. In some patients, just removing the brake is enough to allow the person's immune system to fight and contain the cancer. For other patients, researchers expect other drugs will be needed, too.
In addition to melanoma and lung cancer, this brake-release approach has been shown effective in early trials against bladder, kidney, head and neck cancers, and some blood cancers.