Clinical Trials Are Critical in High-Risk Melanoma

Source: Cure, June 2017

The best option for patients with higher-risk melanoma is to receive effective adjuvant therapy to reduce their chances of recurrence. However, health care professionals have not yet perfected the science of which agents to provide certain patient populations.

During an interview with CURE, Anna C. Pavlick, DO, associate professor of hematology and medical oncology and medical director of the Clinical Trials Office at the Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, discussed adjuvant therapy for patients with high-risk melanoma.

“I reviewed the historical data looking at interferon as the only adjuvant we had for many years, and now we have the checkpoint inhibitor ipilimumab (Yervoy) that has been approved to be given in the adjuvant setting for stage 3 patients,” Pavlick said in an interview during the meeting.