Triplet regimen increases survival in metastatic melanoma

For patients with metastatic melanoma, triple therapy with atezolizumab and vemurafenib plus cobimetinib provides survival benefits significant over vemurafenib plus cobimetinib alone, but the regimen may not be cost-effective, the researchers say.

“Economic evaluation is an important component in assessing the incremental value of newly approved cancer treatments,” Dr. Chao Cai of the University of South Carolina at Columbia told Reuters Health by email. “The triplet combination of the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab plus the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib plus the MEK inhibitor cobimetinib was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in July 2020 as the first regimen of triplets for him treating melanoma patients advanced with BRAF V600 mutations “.

“Adding immunotherapy to targeted therapies could pay off throughout the entire life if an immunotherapeutic effect was sustainable and clinicians were willing to stop routine immunotherapy after two years in the absence of progression of disease, “he said.” It is noteworthy that we consider ‘profitable’ at the willingness-to-pay threshold of $ 150k / quality-adjusted life year (QALY). “