Expert Explains Key Considerations With Immunotherapy in Melanoma

Source: OncLive, April 2016

Although nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) are approved in combination for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma, regardless of BRAF mutation status, the checkpoint blockade has not automatically become the standard of care in this setting, says Tara C. Gangadhar, MD, an assistant professor of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

“There is reluctance to go in the direction of dual checkpoint blockade, even though it is approved, because we are all really waiting for the randomized data and survival data,” she says. “Consideration for clinical trials as first-line treatment for patients with advanced melanoma should remain part of our decision-making in our conversation with patients.”

Melanoma has been one of the frontrunners of the immunotherapy movement, but there is still much for oncologists to understand, adds Gangadhar.

In an interview with OncLive, Gangadhar discusses what oncologists need to know about using immunotherapies—including how to choose between monotherapy and combination regimens—the importance of understanding how immunotherapy responses may differ from cytotoxic chemotherapy responses, and when a patient should be taken off treatment.