Yervoy™ (
ipilimumab) is a prescription medication approved to treat
melanoma, a dangerous type of
skin cancer, when it has spread to other areas of the body (metastasized) or cannot be removed with surgery. It belongs to a group of medicines called monoclonal antibodies.
Who Makes This Medication?
Yervoy is manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.
An antibody (also known as an immunoglobulin) is a protein made by the immune system. Antibodies bind to substances in the body called antigens. Yervoy is a synthetic antibody that binds to and blocks the actions of an antigen called the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4).
CTLA-4 normally inhibits T cells (also called T-lymphocytes), a type of white blood cell that protects the body against disease by destroying infected cells, including cancer cells. By inhibiting T cells, CTLA-4 slows down the immune system's ability to attack cancerous cells. When CTLA-4 is blocked by Yervoy, T cells increase in number and become active, giving the body a better chance at fighting
melanoma cancer cells.
Clinical Effects
In a clinical study, Yervoy was shown to extend survival in people with late-stage melanoma who had stopped responding to other anticancer treatments. In this study, people were randomly given one of three treatments: Yervoy with an experimental vaccine, Yervoy alone, or the experimental vaccine alone.
People who received Yervoy and the vaccine or Yervoy alone lived an average of 10 months after starting treatment. In comparison, people who received just the experimental vaccine lived an average of 6.5 months.
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