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VIDEO: Melanoma research must determine how to maximize efficacy, minimize toxicity
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NEW ORLEANS —Norman E. Sharpless, MD, director of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and Wellcome distinguished professor of cancer research in the departments of medicines and genetics, spoke with HemOnc Today about how the development of effective therapies for melanoma have created new challenges for researchers and clinicians.
“For decades, we had very little to offer our patients with metastatic disease,” Sharpless told HemOnc Today. “Now, the problem is becoming clear ... that there are so many active agents, it’s unclear how to sequence them [and] how to use them in a way that is least toxic and most effective.”
Sharpless discussed several presentations at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, including updated analyses from the CheckMate 069 and KEYNOTE-006 trials. He also reviewed key areas of research in the field, including biomarkers that could predict response to immunotherapy agents, as well as BRAF and MEK inhibitors.