Guarded Optimism on Melanoma

Published Australian Financial Review 8/9/2011 p62

New drugs and genetic developments are creating more treatment opportunities for melanoma sufferers in Australia and gradually changing an area in which previously, nothing really useful could be offered to help people with advanced disease.

The US Food and Drug Administration has just approved two new drugs for people with metastatic melanoma.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia has approved one of these and is believed to be considering the second.

These drugs, which each work on different mechanisms, are so new it is not possible to predict the extent to which they will prolong survival but they do represent a breakthrough and a reason for guarded optimism.