Immunotherapy in Melanoma | Specialty

The OncLive Immunotherapy in Melanoma condition center page is a comprehensive resource for clinical news and expert insights on available and investigational immunotherapies in melanoma and other skin cancers. This page features news articles, interviews in written and video format, and podcasts that focus on updates with checkpoint inhibitors and the ongoing research with this type of treatment.

Dr. Weber on the Updated Analysis of the CheckMate-238 Trial in Melanoma

September 28th 2019

Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, discusses the updated analysis of the phase III CheckMate-238 trial in patients with resected stage III/IV melanoma.

Evolutionary Approach Drives Melanoma Advancements

September 25th 2019

The treatment landscape changed significantly with the first melanoma clinical trials in 2001, which evaluated the CTLA-4 antibodies ipilimumab (Yervoy) and tremelimumab.

EU Panel Recommends 4-Week Nivolumab Dosing Schedule in Adjuvant Melanoma

September 24th 2019

The European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has recommended approval of nivolumab at a flat dosing schedule of either 240 mg over 30 minutes every 2 weeks, or 480 mg infused over 60 minutes every 4 weeks, for the adjuvant treatment of patients with melanoma who have involvement of lymph nodes or metastatic disease who have undergone complete resection.

Dr. Flaherty on Second-Line Therapy for BRAF-Mutant Melanoma

September 24th 2019

Keith T. Flaherty, MD, discusses treatment beyond frontline therapy for patients with BRAF-mutant relapsed/refractory melanoma.

Neoadjuvant and Frontline Studies Guide Malignant Melanoma Treatment

September 19th 2019

Five melanoma experts discuss findings from several exciting studies presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting that are helping to change the way patients with malignant melanoma are treated.

Dr. Nathan on Long-Term Outcomes With Dabrafenib/Trametinib in BRAF V600-Mutant Melanoma

September 19th 2019

Paul D. Nathan, MBBS, PhD, FRCP, consultant medical oncologist, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, discusses the long-term outcomes with the combination of dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) in patients with BRAF V600-mutant unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

Dr. Sznol Discusses the Combination of Ipilimumab and Nivolumab in Melanoma

September 11th 2019

Mario Sznol, MD, professor of medicine, co-director, Yale SPORE in Skin Cancer, Yale Cancer Center, discusses the benefits of immunotherapy, specifically the combination of the CTLA-4 inhibitoripilimumab and the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab, in melanoma.

Dr. Polsky on Validating ctDNA as a Biomarker in BRAF-Mutant Melanoma

September 10th 2019

David Polsky, MD, PhD, Alfred W. Kopf, MD Professor of Dermatologic Oncology, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, professor, Department of Pathology, and director, Pigmented Lesion Service, NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, discusses the next steps that have to be taken to validate the clinical utility of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) as a biomarker in BRAF-mutant melanoma.

An Instinct for Innovation Drives Robert's Melanoma Research

September 7th 2019

A 2018 Giants of Cancer Care® award winner in Melanoma and Other Skin Cancers, Caroline Robert, MD, PhD, has helped clarify the role of immune therapies in advanced melanoma with her groundbreaking work on clinical trials evaluating anti– CTLA-4 and anti–PD-1 antibodies.

Dr. Robert on Potential of Dabrafenib/Trametinib in Melanoma Brain Metastases

September 6th 2019

Caroline Robert, MD, PhD, head of the Dermatology Unit at the Institut Gustave-Roussey, co-director of the Melanoma Research Unit at INSERM 981 Paris-Sud University, explains why patients with melanoma and brain metastases were excluded from a trial evaluating the efficacy of dabrafenib plus trametinib.

Encorafenib/Binimetinib Combo Continues to Show Survival Benefit in BRAF-Mutant Melanoma

September 3rd 2019

Encorafenib (Braftovi) plus binimetinib (Mektovi) had superior overall survival and progression-free survival compared with encorafenib or vemurafenib (Zelboraf) alone in patients with BRAF V600–mutant melanoma.

Dr. Hurwitz on Patient Cohorts in the PIVOT-02 Trial

August 30th 2019

Michael E. Hurwitz, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, Yale Cancer, Center, discusses the various patient cohorts in the ongoing phase I/II PIVOT-02 trial.

Dr. Guminski on 16-Month Follow-Up With Cemiplimab in mCSCC

August 29th 2019

Alexander Guminski, MD, PhD, medical oncologist, Royal North Shore Hospital, University of Sydney, discusses the 16-month follow-up results of a phase II trial evaluating cemiplimab (Libtayo) in patients with metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

Dr. Long on the Results of the Pooled Analysis of the COMBI-i Trial in Melanoma

August 28th 2019

Georgina V. Long, BSc, PhD, MBBS, FRACP, co-medical director of Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA), chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Translational Research at MIA and Royal North Shore Hospital, University of Sydney, discusses the results of the pooled analysis of parts 1 and 2 of the phase III COMBI-i study.

Dr. Geiger on Challenges of Patients With CSCC Enrolled in KEYNOTE-630 Trial

August 27th 2019

Jessica Geiger, MD, medical oncologist, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic, discusses challenges with the patient population enrolled in the phase III KEYNOTE-630 trial exploring the use of adjuvant pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

Dr. Atkins on Long-Term Survival Benefit of Nivolumab/Ipilimumab in Advanced Melanoma

August 22nd 2019

Michael B. Atkins, MD, deputy director, Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses data from a phase I trial exploring the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) in patients with melanoma.

Checkpoint Inhibitors Vault Into Frontline Settings Across Tumor Types

August 6th 2019

By the end of 2018, the 57 oncology drugs launched from 2014 to 2018 had gained 89 indications across 23 cancer types. These new agents included numerous checkpoint inhibitors, which saw tremendous uptake based on their ability to dramatically improve patient outcomes.

NY-ESO-1 Gains Momentum as a Therapeutic Target

August 2nd 2019

As the immunotherapy research field grows, NY-ESO-1 is emerging as a high-priority target for cancer vaccine development and adoptive T-cell therapies.

FDA Grants Bempegaldesleukin Plus Nivolumab Breakthrough Designation in Melanoma

August 1st 2019

The FDA granted a breakthrough therapy designation to the combination of bempegaldesleukin (NKTR-214) and nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of patients with previously untreated unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

Dr. Flaherty on the Rationale to Explore Triplet Therapy in BRAF V600E-Mutant Melanoma

August 1st 2019

Keith T. Flaherty, MD, director, Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy and director of clinical research, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses the rationale to explore triplet therapy in BRAF V600-mutant melanoma.