New Standard in Melanoma May Save $1 Billion While Improving Lives
Source: Oncology News Central, July 2024
A new standard is poised to transform melanoma care in terms of both patient outcomes and economics. Results from the phase 3 NADINA trial (Abstract LBA2), presented at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, showed that a six-week course of neoadjuvant immunotherapy was superior to two years of adjuvant immunotherapy in treating macroscopic, resectable stage III melanoma. That shorter length of treatment will not only improve lives but also save a staggering sum of money, experts say.
“Neoadjuvant therapy with management tailored to the depth of pathological response (week 6 surgery), will be a standard of care, and is already a standard for patients in Australia,” Georgina Long AO, BSc, PhD, MBBS, senior author of the study and chair of melanoma medical oncology and translational research at the University of Sydney, told Oncology News Central (ONC).
The study randomly assigned patients to receive either two cycles of neoadjuvant ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab (Opdivo), followed by response-driven adjuvant treatment, or to receive 11 cycles of adjuvant nivolumab. At a median follow-up of 9.9 months, the estimated 12-month event-free survival rates were 83.7% with neoadjuvant immunotherapy and 57.2% with adjuvant immunotherapy.