FDA approved Yervoy (ipilimumab) to treat patients with late-stage (metastatic) melanoma. I have found the Bloomberg report on this subject thanks to FierceBiotech feed. I recommend the Bloomberg report as it includes pricing and other useful info not available from other sources. The good news is that those who received the combination of Yervoy plus melanoma peptide vaccine (gp 100) or Yervoy alone lived an average of about 10 months, while those who received only the experimental vaccine lived an average of 6.5 months.
Since this drug is a monoclonal antibody, it can't be administered orally, otherwise it will be digested and won't reach its destination. In the clinical trial, it was done thought iv infusion over 90 minutes, every 3 weeks for 4 doses. The results of this clinical trial have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine - Improved Survival with Ipilimumab in Patients with Metastatic Melanoma. It's interesting that in the patent for Ipilimumab it was used for reducing the incidence of adverse events related to immunotherapy.
I'll keep an eye on other trials that use Ipilimumab, including this one, where it's used for non small cell lung cancer.
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