Drug boosts cancer survival five-fold

 A new immunotherapy cancer drug boosts survival rates five-fold, US scientists have found.

Nivolumab (Opdivo) is used to treat several cancers by helping the patient’s own immune system to find and destroy cancer cells as they spread.

Dr Scott Gettinger, of Yale University’s comprehensive cancer centre, told the World Conference on Lung Cancer in Barcelona that a study of 854 patients showed those on the drug were five times more likely to be alive five years after diagnosis (13.4 per cent) than those on conventional chemotherapy (2.6 per cent).