Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) elicited significantly better outcomes compared with ipilimumab (Yervoy) in a randomized phase III trial of patients with advanced melanoma. Results from the study, the first head-to-head comparison of the two FDA-approved checkpoint inhibitors, were presented April 19 at the 2015 AACR Annual Meeting.
MRV Research
Bispecific Immunotherapy Elicits Intriguing Responses in Melanoma
IMCgp100, an anti-CD3 antibody fragment fused to a gp100-specific T cell receptor, yielded long-lasting responses in patients with advanced melanoma, according to results from a 17-patient expansion cohort presented at the 2015 AACR Annual Meeting.
Merck drug improves odds for melanoma patients
Merck & Co.’s new cancer drug Keytruda improved the survival odds of patients with the skin cancer melanoma compared with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s Yervoy, in the first head-to-head study of a new wave of drugs that harness the body’s immune system to destroy tumors.
Therapeutic Nanoparticles Found To Induce an Effective Antitumor Immune Response at a Specific Temperature
Researchers at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Norris Cotton Cancer Center and the Wistar Institute have discovered the exact temperature at which a cancer immunotherapy strategy based on nanoparticles induces an effective antitumor immune response. The study was published in the journal Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine and is entitled “Local hyperthermia treatment of tumors induces CD8+ T cell-mediated resistance against distal and secondary tumors.”