OPDIVO Day

Nivolumab, sold under the brand name Opdivo, is a medication used to treat a number of types of cancer.  

This includes 

melanoma, 

lung cancer, 

malignant pleural mesothelioma, 

renal cell carcinoma, 

Hodgkin lymphoma, 

head and neck cancer, 

urothelial carcinoma, 

colon cancer, 

esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, 

liver cancer, 

gastric cancer, 

and esophageal or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer.  

It is used by slow injection into a vein.

The most common side effects include fatigue, rash, musculoskeletal pain, pruritus, diarrhea, nausea, asthenia, cough, dyspnea, constipation, decreased appetite, back pain, arthralgia, upper respiratory tract infection, pyrexia, headache, abdominal pain, and vomiting.  

Nivolumab is a human IgG4 monoclonal antibody that blocks PD-1. It is a type of immunotherapy and works as a checkpoint inhibitor, blocking a signal that prevents activation of T cells from attacking the cancer.  

The most common side effects when used in combination with chemotherapy include peripheral neuropathy (damage to the nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord), nausea, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, abdominal pain, constipation and musculoskeletal pain.

Nivolumab was approved for medical use in the United States in 2014.  It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.   

It is made using Chinese hamster ovary cells.

NOTE:  I have had over 40 infusions of Opdivo which includes 12 infusions in conjunction with YERVOY prior to 6 treatments of radiation to combat metastatic melanoma that migrated from my foot to my groin to my neck.  

Ongoing treatments are being conducted to keep it suppressed.