Nivolumab for treating gastroesophageal cancers

Published on 31 Aug 2022
Last Updated on 1 Apr 2026

Guidance Recommendations

The Ministry of Health's Drug Advisory Committee has recommended:

• Nivolumab 40 mg/4 mL, 100 mg/10 mL and 240 mg/24 mL concentrate for solution for infusion for:

  • Adjuvant treatment of completely resected oesophageal or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer with residual pathologic disease in patients who have received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Maximum treatment duration is 12 months.

  • Untreated, unresectable advanced or metastatic HER2-negative gastric cancer, GEJ cancer or oesophageal adenocarcinoma when used with chemotherapy. Treatment with nivolumab should be stopped at 2 years, or earlier if disease progresses.

  • Treatment of unresectable advanced, recurrent or metastatic oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma after prior fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-based combination chemotherapy. Patients must not have received prior treatment with a PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor for this condition in the unresectable advanced, recurrent or metastatic setting.

Funding status

Nivolumab 40 mg/4 mL, 100 mg/10 mL and 240 mg/24 mL concentrate for solution for infusion are recommended for inclusion on the Medication Assistance Fund (MAF) for the abovementioned indications from 1 September 2022.

Clinical indications, subsidy class and MediShield Life claim limits for nivolumab are provided in the Annex.

Nivolumab for treating gastroesophageal cancers (Updated 1 Apr 2026) [PDF, 144 KB]

Nivolumab for treating gastroesophageal cancers PES (Updated 1 Apr 2026) [PDF, 111 KB]