The FDA has granted regular approval to dostarlimabgxly (Jemperli – GSK), an immune checkpoint inhibitor, for treatment of adults with mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) recurrent or advanced endometrial cancer that has progressed on or following a prior platinum-containing regimen in any setting and who are not candidates for curative surgery or radiation. Dostarlimab received accelerated approval in 2021 for treatment of adults with dMMR recurrent or advanced endometrial cancer or nonendometrial solid tumors that progressed on or following prior treatment and who have no...

The FDA has approved cemiplimab-rwlc (Libtayo – Regeneron), an immune checkpoint inhibitor, for use in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy for first-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in adults with no epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), or ROS1 aberrations and who are not candidates for surgical resection or chemoradiation. The drug was previously approved for first-line treatment of NSCLC in patients whose tumors have high PD-L1 expression and no genomic tumor aberrations....

Cosibelimab (Unloxcyt – Checkpoint Therapeutics), a programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) blocking antibody, has been approved by the FDA for treatment of locally advanced or metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma in adults who are not candidates for curative surgery or radiation. It is the first PD-L1 inhibitor to be approved in the US for this indication. The PD-1 inhibitors pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and cemiplimab (Libtayo) are also approved for treatment of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

Opdualag (BMS), a fixed-dose combination of two immune checkpoint inhibitors — nivolumab (Opdivo), a programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) inhibitor, and relatlimab-rmbw, a lymphocyte-activation gene-3 (LAG-3) blocking antibody — has been approved by the FDA for treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma in patients ≥12 years old. Relatlimab, which is only available in combination with nivolumab, is the first LAG-3 blocking antibody to become available in the US. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, including the anti-CTLA-4 antibody ipilimumab (Yervoy) and the PD-1 inhibitors...

Atezolizumab (Tecentriq – Genentech), an immune checkpoint inhibitor, has been approved by the FDA for treatment of unresectable or metastatic alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) in patients ≥2 years old. It was previously approved for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, small cell lung cancer, hepatocellular cancer, and melanoma (see Table 1). Atezolizumab is the first drug to be approved in the US for treatment of ASPS. ASPS is a rare disorder that affects mostly adolescents and young adults; <1% of soft tissue sarcomas are ASPS.

Retifanlimab-dlwr (Zynyz – Incyte), a programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) blocking antibody, has received accelerated approval from the FDA for treatment of metastatic or recurrent locally advanced Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) in adults. Accelerated approval of the drug was based on the response rate and duration of response. Retifanlimab is the third drug to be approved in the US for treatment of MCC; pembrolizumab (Keytruda), a PD-1 blocking antibody, is approved for the same indication as retifanlimab in patients ≥12 years old and avelumab (Bavencio), a programmed death...

The FDA has approved a subcutaneous formulation of the recombinant human anti-CD20 antibody ofatumumab (Kesimpta – Novartis) for treatment of adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), including clinically isolated syndrome (initial neurological episode), relapsing-remitting disease, and active secondary progressive MS (SPMS). Kesimpta is the second anti-CD20 antibody to be approved for these indications; IV ocrelizumab (Ocrevus), which is also approved for treatment of primary progressive MS, was the first. An IV formulation of ofatumumab (Arzerra) has...

View Expanded Table: Some Biologic Drugs and JAK Inhibitors for Rheumatoid Arthritis

The FDA has approved the interleukin (IL)-6 inhibitor sarilumab (Kevzara – Sanofi/Regeneron) for treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) in adults who had an inadequate response to corticosteroids or cannot tolerate a corticosteroid taper. Sarilumab is the first biologic drug to be approved for treatment of PMR; it was previously approved for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Toripalimab-tpzi (Loqtorzi – Coherus Biosciences), a programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1)-blocking antibody, has been approved by the FDA for use in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine for first-line treatment of recurrent locally advanced or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma and for use as monotherapy for treatment of recurrent unresectable or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma in adults with disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. It is the first immune checkpoint inhibitor to be approved in the US for treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.