Bristol-Myers Squibb's immunotherapy drug Opdivo has increased the kidney cancer survival rates by over 2 years in a late-stage trial, making the drug all set to be used beyond melanoma and lung cancer.

In July, the US Company said the study was stopped early because its drug was more effective as compared to Novartis' established product Afinitor. But the detailed findings of the study were revealed on Saturday at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna.

The successful outcome meant that Opdivo has become the first so-called immune checkpoint inhibitor drug that has shown an improvement in overall survival in patients having renal cell carcinoma (RCC), a common type of kidney cancer.

Opdivo has already received the approval for melanoma and lung cancer, with the main focus on the big lung cancer opportunity. But, as per the analysts, RCC prevalence was double that of melanoma, and has pointed towards major commercial upside.

Drugs, including Opdivo, function by targeting molecules that play a vital role in the immune system's ability to identify and attack tumors.

One of the lead researchers on the study, Padmanee Sharma of the US MD Anderson Cancer Center, mentioned that patients, who took Opdivo had a median overall survival of 25 months in comparison to 19.6 months for the ones taking Afinitor.

A large number of patients also had tumors that got reduced when used Bristol drug as compared to the Novartis one, with an objective response rate of 25% for Opdivo against 5% for Afinitor.

Sharma said, “The results are significant and clinically meaningful to patients and healthcare professionals alike. They are likely to change the treatment of patients with advanced kidney cancer, whose disease has progressed on prior treatment”.