One of the drugs in the combination was ipilimumab (sold under the brand name Yervoy), which works by removing an inhibitory mechanism that can stop certain immune cells from killing cancer cells. It was mixed with another drug, called nivolumab (brand name Opdivo), which can prevent immune cells called T cells from dying. At the end of the experimental study, melanoma was undetectable in 22 percent of the patients who received this drug combination. It’s not known yet if melanoma will reoccur in any of the patients but it’s sure they will live longer than usually expected for this illness in patients with stage IV melanoma. There is however a bad aspect, the ipilimumab with nivolumab combination comes with serious side effects, that can be brutal, such as colitis (swelling of the colon), diarrhea and problems with the endocrine glands.On the other part, hhe medications are also pricey, more than 120,000 for one patient.
