The approval of nivolumab in early 2015 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of squamous cell non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) marks a second approval for this drug, following a 2014 approval for metastatic melanoma. Approved 3 months ahead of schedule, nivolumab is the first immunotherapy to be approved for the treatment of lung cancer. The drug can help to reinstate the antitumor immune response by targeting the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) receptor, an “immune checkpoint” protein found on the surface of activated T cells that is involved in inhibiting T-cell activity.
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