# RELATIVITY-098

Source: https://onco.cc/trials/relativity-098/  
OnCo record `relativity-098` (Trial). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Adding relatlimab to adjuvant nivolumab did not reduce recurrence, so the LAG-3 combination stays a treatment for measurable disease.

## Summary

RELATIVITY-098, trial NCT05002569 sponsored by Bristol Myers Squibb and published in 2025, found that adding the LAG-3 antibody relatlimab to adjuvant nivolumab did not reduce recurrence in resected stage III and IV melanoma, so the combination stays a treatment for measurable disease. It randomised 1,093 patients and showed no difference in recurrence-free survival, with overall survival not formally tested. OnCo links it to LAG-3 as a target, the relatlimab plus nivolumab and nivolumab records, Hussein A. Tawbi and a caution pairing about LAG-3 blockade outside active disease. Whether LAG-3 blockade needs an antigen-rich tumour to act on, echoing why neoadjuvant designs outperform adjuvant ones, is the question it raises.

## Fields

- Kind: Trial
- Status: negative
- Last checked: 2026-09-07
- Tags: failure; lesson:adjuvant-vs-active-disease
- Registry id: NCT05002569
- Phase: 3
- Setting: Resected stage III/IV melanoma: adjuvant nivolumab + relatlimab vs nivolumab
- Sponsor: BMS
- Enrolled: 1093
- Result: RFS not improved.
- Outcomes: Recurrence-free survival: Nivolumab + relatlimab vs Nivolumab, HR 1.01
- Replication: Failed to extend the RELATIVITY-047 advanced-disease benefit into the adjuvant setting; translational data attribute this to low peripheral LAG-3+ T cells without macroscopic tumour.

## Sources

- ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05002569: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05002569
- RELATIVITY-098 publication: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12705465/

## Connected records

- cancers: [Melanoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/melanoma/), [Stage III melanoma (after surgery)](https://onco.cc/cancers/stage-iii-melanoma/)
- technologies: [Immune checkpoint inhibitors](https://onco.cc/technologies/checkpoint-inhibitor/)
- targets: [LAG-3](https://onco.cc/targets/lag3/)
- drugs: [Nivolumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/nivolumab/), [Relatlimab + nivolumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/relatlimab-nivolumab/)
- people: [Hussein A. Tawbi](https://onco.cc/people/hussein-tawbi/)
- key papers: [Adjuvant nivolumab and relatlimab in stage III/IV melanoma: the randomized phase 3 RELATIVITY-098 trial](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-relativity-098-nat-med-2025/)
- pairings: [Caution: LAG-3 blockade outside active disease](https://onco.cc/pairings/lag3-adjuvant-caution/)
- ideas: [Extended-interval immunotherapy: give checkpoint inhibitors every 8-12 weeks once stable](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr1-extended-interval-checkpoint-dosing/), [Give immunotherapy in the morning](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-chronotherapy-immunotherapy/), [Microbiome transplant as a routine immunotherapy adjunct](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-microbiome-io-fmt/), [Randomised trials of stopping immunotherapy after one year versus continuing](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr1-immunotherapy-stop-trials/)

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