In a combined decision, members of the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) and Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee (CTGTAC) voted 22-1 to recommend approval of the oncolytic immunotherapy talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) as a treatment for patients with advanced melanoma. A final approval decision from the FDA is scheduled by October 27, 2015.
MRV Research
Common Skin Mole Mutations Related To Hundreds Of Cancer Possibilities
An international team of scientists led by Houston Methodist researchers managed to identify in mice models hundreds of possible new genes that might transform benign skin growths into deadly melanomas. These results have been published in the journal Nature Genetics.
Hundreds of cancer possibilities arise from common skin mole mutation
A Houston Methodist-led team of international scientists has identified hundreds of possible new genes in mice that could transform benign skin growths into deadly melanomas.
New Immunotherapy Reduces Tumors in Metastatic Melanoma Patients
Scientists at Penn Abramson Cancer Center recently presented groundbreaking results showing how combining an immune-checkpoint inhibitor – tremelimumab – with an anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody drug induces a safe and effective response in patients with metastatic melanoma. The team presented their latest findings during the section devoted to Clinical Trials of Combinations of Molecularly Targeted and Non-targeted Therapeutic Agents, in a presentation entitled “Combination of agonistic CD40 monoclonal antibody CP-870,893 and anti-CTLA-4 antibody tremelimumab in patients with metastatic melanoma” at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, in April 19, 2015 in Philadelphia. The study was financed by grants from Penn-Pfizer alliance grant and the National Cancer Institute (NIC), at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).