Study of Nivolumab (BMS-936558) Compared With Dacarbazine in Untreated, Unresectable, or Metastatic Melanoma

OS is defined as the time between the date of randomization and the date of death or the last date the participant was known to be alive.

OS rate is calculated as the percentage of participants alive at the indicated timepoints

Investigator-assessed PFS is defined as the time from randomization to the date of the first documented progression, as determined by the investigator, or death due to any cause, whichever occurs first. Patients who died without progressing were considered to have progressed on the date of their death. Those who did not progress or die were documented on the date of their last evaluable tumor assessment. Patients who did not have any on-study tumor assessments and did not die were documented on their date of randomization. Those who started any subsequent anticancer therapy without a prior reported progression were documented on the date of their last evaluable tumor assessment prior to initiation of subsequent anticancer therapy.

The PFS rate at a time point is the estimated percentage of patients who have not progressed and are alive at that time point following randomization and is estimated using the Kaplan-Meier methodology.

ORR is defined as the percentage of participants with a best overall response of Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) defined complete response (CR) or partial response (PR). RECIST, volume 1.1 for target lesions: CR=disappearance of all target lesions; PR=at least a 30% decrease in the sum of the longest dimension (LD) of target lesions, taking as reference the baseline sum LD; stable disease=neither sufficient shrinkage to qualify for PR nor sufficient increase to qualify for progressive disease (PD), taking as reference the smallest sum LD since the treatment started; PD=at least a 20% increase in the sum of the LD of target lesions, taking as reference the smallest sum LD recorded since the treatment started or the appearance of one or more new lesions, and the sum LD must have an absolute increase of ≥5 mm.

Overall Survival is defined as the time between the date of randomization and the date of death or the last date the participant was known to be alive. PD-L1 expression level is defined as the percent of tumor cells demonstrating plasma membrane PD-L1-staining in a minimum of 100 evaluable tumor cells per a Dako PD-L1 IHC (immunohistochemistry) assay (referred to as quantifiable PD-L1 expression). Assessment of OS by PD-L1 expression as measured by a validated assay and comparing OS in patients with tumor PD-L1 expression ≥5% (PD-L1 positive) versus patients with tumor PD-L1 expression <5% (PD-L1 negative). Tumor tissue samples for PD-L1 testing were collected at screening from metastatic or unresectable sites prior to randomization.

HRQoL is evaluated by mean changes from baseline in the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (QLQ-C30) global health status/quality of life composite scale in all randomized patients. The QLQ-30 is a cancer-specific, self-administered questionnaire that contains 30 questions, covering global, functional, and symptom scales. Scores range from 0 to 100. Higher scores on global and functional scales indicate better quality of life (QoL), while higher scores on the symptom scales indicate declining QoL.