Melbourne Melanoma Project committed to improving the diagnosis and early detection of melanoma.

Use of T-VEC in early metastatic melanoma

Source: Ecancer, November 2018 Ms Viola Franke – Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands Viola Franke speaks with ecancer at ESMO 2018 in Munich about results from a trial using engineered virotherapy talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) in early metastatic melanoma. She describes the significant response rates and low toxicity in this early trial, with followups planned to monitor the […]

Immunotherapy Combos: Will Cost Put Them out of Reach?

Source: Medscape, November 2018 WASHINGTON — New classes of cancer medicines that activate the immune system may be used in combinations, just as more traditional chemotherapies have been, specialists said here at the 2018 annual meeting of the National Academy of Medicine. However, the prospect of using combinations of these immunotherapies will exacerbate already intense […]

Medicare to Cover Castle Bio’s Cutaneous Melanoma Test

Source: Genome Web, November 2018 NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Medicare contractor Palmetto GBA on Thursday issued a final local coverage determination for Castle Biosciences’ DecisionDx-Melanoma assay, a prognostic test for cutaneous melanoma that helps guide use of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). The LCD extends coverage of the assay for SLNB-eligible patients with T1 and T2 cutaneous […]

Puzanov Provides Perspective on T-VEC in Melanoma

Source: OncLive, November 2018 In 2015, talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC; Imlygic) became the first-in-class oncolytic immunotherapy to be FDA approved for the treatment of advanced-stage unresectable melanoma, but its path forward may be in combination with checkpoint inhibitors, explained Igor Puzanov, MD, MSCI, FACP. In the phase III OPTiM trial, which was the basis for the […]