Melanoma Patients May Benefit from Experimental Drug

A new study published in the August 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine found that patients with metastatic melanoma may benefit from an experimental medication known as ipilimumab.

Metastatic melanoma patients who took the drug demonstrated a median survival rate of 10 months, a 3.6 month improvement over those who did not take the medication.

The survival rate for patients with metastatic melanoma is typically six to nine months. 

Additional results from the study that examined a subgroup of patients who also took ipilimumab found that patients taking the medication lived as long as six years.

"This is the first drug that's ever been shown in a randomized, controlled trial to offer a survival benefit for patients," said Dr. F. Stephen Hodi, lead author of the study and director of the melanoma disease center at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

The study included 676 patients with advanced melanoma with participants who were randomly chosen to receive ipilimumab plus gp100 (an experimental vaccine), ipilimumab alone or gp100 alone.

Results saw virtually no variance in the survival rates of patients who took ipilimumab plus gp100 or ipilimumab alone. However, patients who took gp100 alone demonstrated a 6.4 month survival rate, notably less than the 10 month survival rate found in patients taking ipilimumab plus gp100 or ipilimumab alone.

"The gp100 vaccine didn't seem to add much to the treatment," said Dr. Hodi.

Serious side effects were noted in 15 percent of the patients taking ipilimumab, while only 3 percent of those taking gp100 noted a severe adverse reaction.

Moving forward, researchers are now examining the patients who demonstrated a longer survival time in the study.

Additional information about drugs and drug side effects may be found on DrugWatch.com.