The trial team concluded that ipilimumab did not help people with advanced NSCLC.
Neither they nor their doctor could choose which group they were in. And neither they nor their doctor knew which group they were in. This was a
double bind trial.
Results
The trial team looked at how well ipilimumab worked. To do this they looked at the length of time people lived after treatment. This is called
overall survival. They found that:
- people who had ipilimumab, carboplatin and paclitaxel lived around 13 months after treatment
- people who had dummy drug, carboplatin and paclitaxel lived around 12 months after treatment
The team also looked at the average length of time people lived without any signs of their cancer getting worse. This is called progression free survival. They found that, on average, people in both groups lived almost 6 months without signs of their cancer getting worse.
Side effects
The trial team looked at the most common side effects people in the ipilimumab group had. They were:
The most common side effects people in the dummy drug group had were a drop in the number of blood cells, diarrhoea, decreased appetite, sickness, tiredness and numbness in fingers and toes.
Conclusion
The trial team concluded that treatment with ipilimumab, carboplatin and paclitaxel is well tolerated.
They also concluded that ipilimumab together with carboplatin and paclitaxel doesn’t help people with advanced NSCLC. But doctors think that ipilimumab together with other targeted drugs may help people in this situation. They continue to look for different treatment combinations with ipilimumab.
We have based this summary on information from the research team. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (
peer reviewed 
) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team who did the research. We have not analysed the data ourselves.