Immunotherapy drugs when combined prevent melanoma progression

Washington: In a new trial, researchers have discovered that a combination of two immunotherapy drugs — ipilimumab and nivolumab – is capable of reversing or preventing the progression of advanced melanoma for five years or more in one in every two patients.
These findings were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Just 10 years ago, only 1 in 20 patients with advanced melanoma would survive for five years- with many living for just six to nine months.
The results from the Checkmate 067 trial presented at the 2019 ESMO Annual Meeting in Barcelona, Spain; represent the longest phase three trial follow-up for checkpoint inhibitor combination therapy.
“In the past, metastatic melanoma was regarded as untreatable. Oncologists considered melanoma different to other cancers – it couldn’t be treated once it had spread. This is the first time we can say that the chances of being a long-term survivor of advanced melanoma are now over 50 per cent,” said study presenter Professor James Larkin, Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Professor at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR).
Researchers incorporated 945 patients with advanced melanoma randomised into three groups: 314 patients received the ‘double-hit’ of nivolumab plus ipilimumab; 316 patients received nivolumab plus a placebo; and 315 patients received ipilimumab plus placebo.