Trending News Today: Potential Immunotherapy Combo Delays Kidney Cancer Progression

Bristol-Myers Squibb announced positive results from a mid-stage trial evaluating its experimental treatment BMS-986165 in 267 patients with plaque psoriasis, Reuters reported. According to the article, between 67% and 75% of patients given a 3-mg dose twice daily or a higher dose showed a reduction on the PASI-75 scale after 12 weeks compared with 7% in the placebo group. The PASI-75 measures the efficacy of a drug by recording how many patients achieve a reduction in the area affected and severity of their psoriasis, the article reported.

Merck KGaA announced that its immunotherapy, Bavencio, jointly developed with Pfizer, delayed the progression of kidney cancer when used in combination with Pfizer’s Inlyta in a late-stage study, Reuters reported. According to the article, the drug combination led to longer progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) when compared with a control group on Pfizer’s drug Sutent. Although the company stated the benefit was statistically significant, they did not specify the duration of PFS, the article reported.

Delaware public officials have reported a record number of deaths from suspected drug overdoses in August, the Associated Press reported. According to the article, officials said that 39 deaths were reported last month, which is the highest since they began tracking deaths from suspected overdoses in 2013. Officials suspect many of the overdoses involved fentanyl, the article reported.