The news is good from the longest follow-up survival study of patients with advanced melanoma who were treated with the anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) agent nivolumab (Opdivo).1 Thirty-four percent of patients who received the drug in a phase I trial (CA909-003) were alive 5 years later. This study, which was presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), enrolled heavily pretreated patients with advanced melanoma.
Conferences
ASCO: More Good News for PD-1 Tx of Melanoma
CHICAGO — Patients with advanced melanoma treated with a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor lived more than twice as long as historically treated patients, according to updated results from a large phase I clinical trial.
Targeted Checkpoint Blocking Therapies Not Yet an Effective Melanoma Treatment, Cancer Expert Says
In a talk at the recent HemOnc Today’s Melanoma and Cutaneous Malignancies meeting, Christian Blank, group leader of the division of immunology at Netherlands Cancer Institute, presented his views of checkpoint blocking therapies. He concluded that targeted therapy is not enough to fight melanoma.
VIDEO: Targeted therapy ‘not enough’ for long-term melanoma treatment
Christian Blank, MD, PhD, staff member in medical oncology and group leader of the division of immunology at Netherlands Cancer Institute, reviewed new checkpoint targets during a presentation at HemOnc Today Melanoma and Cutaneous Malignancies.