Skin: Longer Lives For Cancer Patients (US)

Article: Courier Mail 7/6/2011 p16, Sydney Morning Herald 7/6/2011 p7, Adelaide Advertiser, Herald Sun 7/6/2011 p9, Hobart Mercury 7/6/2011 p16

Clinical trials have shown two new treatments, including therapy blocking a gene mutation occurring in half of melanoma patients, are prolonging the lives of people suffering from the deadliest form of skin cancer.

The drug Vemurafenib neutralises the mutation of a gene that plays a major role in the development of melanoma by inhibiting protein production. A study showed users of the drug were 63 per cent less likely to die than people using chemotherapy.

The other treatment prolonging lives of those with advanced melanoma involves the antibody ipilumumab, sold under the trade name Yervoy, which stimulates the immune system. Trials showed that the drug taken in combination with chemotherapy significantly prolongs the life of people with advanced melanoma, compared with chemotherapy alone.