Metastatic Melanoma

The FDA granted priority review to relatlimab and nivolumab for treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

More than 80% of patients with heavily pretreated metastatic melanoma experienced tumor shrinkage after receiving the adoptive cell therapy lifileucel, according to results of a phase 2 study.

A trial designed to evaluate the addition of relatlimab to nivolumab for untreated metastatic or unresectable melanoma met its primary endpoint of improved PFS, according to topline data released by the agent’s manufacturer.

Circulating tumor DNA measurements before and during treatment could help guide selection of therapy for patients with BRAF V600-mutant unresectable or metastatic melanoma, according to study results published in The Lancet Oncology.

Approximately half of patients with metastatic melanoma have BRAF mutations, specifically BRAF V600E and BRAF V600K mutations, that enable tumor cells to grow out of control. Continuous dosing with a combination of BRAF and MEK inhibitors has shown better results than intermittent dosing in these cases, according to recent research, while combination regimens also show promise.

An alternative pembrolizumab dosing regimen of 400 mg every 6 weeks appeared safe and effective for patients with metastatic melanoma, according to first clinical outcomes data from KEYNOTE-555 cohort B presented at the virtual American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting.

The top story in hematology/oncology last week focused on how oncology providers can protect “the most vulnerable” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The introduction and approval of new treatments for metastatic melanoma has led to significant declines in population-level mortality over the past several years, according to results of a retrospective study published in American Journal of Public Health.

Adjuvant ipilimumab dosed at 3 mg/kg significantly improved OS compared with high-dose interferon alfa-2b among patients with metastatic unresectable melanoma, according to results of the phase 3 E1609 trial published in Journal of Clinical Oncology.

American Cancer Society and Melanoma Research Alliance provided two $1 million grants that will fund research focused on metastasis of melanoma and other cancer types.