By Stephen Nakrosis

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) on Monday said results from a Phase 3 trial indicated Opdivo showed a "statistically significant overall survival benefit versus chemotherapy" in certain esophageal cancer patients.

The pharmaceutical company said the results came from its Phase 3 Attraction-3 trial, which was evaluating Opdivo, or nivolumab, against docetaxel or paclitaxel in patients with advanced esophagal cancer.

The data show patients in the Opdivo arm showed 12 overall survival rates of 47%, and 18-month overall survival rates of 31%. In the chemotherapy arm, those numbers were 34% and 21%, respectively, Bristol-Myers Squibb said.

"An exploratory analysis of patient-reported outcomes showed significant overall improvement in quality of life with Opdivo versus chemotherapy," the company said.

"These are very promising results for patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma for whom prognosis is typically poor and are particularly important given Opdivo improved survival regardless of PD-L1 status," said Ian M. Waxman, M.D., development lead, Gastrointestinal Cancers, Bristol-Myers Squibb. "We are encouraged to see important progress being made in this tumor type and look forward to broadening our research in gastrointestinal tumors."

Data from the test was presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology 2019 Annual Congress in Barcelona, and simultaneously published in The Lancet Oncology, the company said.

--Write to Stephen Nakrosis at stephen.nakrosis@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 30, 2019 11:30 ET (15:30 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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