Ipilimumab

Ipilimumab (trade name Yervoy) is a monoclonal antibody that works to activate the immune system by targeting CTLA-4, a protein receptor that downregulates the immune system. Ipilimumab (trade name Yervoy) is a monoclonal antibody that works to activate the immune system by targeting CTLA-4, a protein receptor that downregulates the immune system. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) can recognize and destroy cancer cells. However, an inhibitory mechanism interrupts this destruction. Ipilimumab turns off this inhibitory mechanism and allows CTLs to function. Ipilimumab was approved by the U.S. FDA in 2011 for the treatment of melanoma, a type of skin cancer. It is undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), small cell lung cancer (SCLC), bladder cancer and metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer. The concept of using anti-CTLA4 antibodies to treat cancer was first developed by James P. Allison while he was director of the Cancer Research Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Clinical development of anti-CTLA4 was initiated by Medarex, which was later acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb. As of 2013 the cost was $120,000 for a course of treatment. For his work in developing ipilimumab, Allison was awarded the Lasker Award in 2015. Allison later was the co-winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Ipilimumab was approved by US FDA in March 2011 to treat patients with late-stage melanoma that has spread or cannot be removed by surgery. It was later approved by the US FDA on October 28, 2015 for stage 3 patients as adjuvant therapy. On February 1, 2012, Health Canada approved ipilimumab for 'treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma in patients who have failed or do not tolerate other systemic therapy for advanced disease.' Ipilimumab was approved in the European Union (EU), for second line treatment of metastatic melanoma in November 2012.