Nivolumab is a human immunoglobulin monoclonal antibody. Like pembrolizumab, it binds to the PD-1 receptor and blocks its interaction with PD-L1 and PD-L2.

Like Keytruda^®, nivolumab is indicated for use in patients with a wide variety of cancers. In CRC, it is indicated for use in adult and pediatric patients (12 years of age and older) with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer that has progressed following treatment with a fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan, as a single agent or in combination with ipilimumab.

In clinical trials, the most common adverse reactions that occurred in 20% or more of patients treated with single-agent nivolumab in clinical trials included 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.