Melanoma drug boosts survival

Study: It helps immune system fight tumors

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHICAGO -- Researchers have scored the first big win against melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, with the development of an experimental drug that significantly improved survival in a major study of people with very advanced disease.

"We have not had any therapy that has prolonged survival," said Dr. Lynn Schuchter of the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center, a skin cancer specialist with no ties to the study or drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. The results, reported Saturday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago, left doctors elated.

The drug, ipilimumab, helps the immune system fight tumors. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has pledged a quick review, and doctors think the drug could be available by the end of this year.

Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer. Last year, the U.S. had about 68,720 new cases and 8,650 deaths from the disease. Worldwide, more than 50,000 people die of melanoma each year.

"The incidence is rising faster than any other cancer," said one of the study's leaders, Dr. Stephen Hodi of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. "When it spreads to vital organs, it's almost always fatal."

The study involved 676 people around the world with advanced, inoperable melanoma. They were given one of three treatments: ipilimumab alone, with another immune-stimulating treatment, or the immune-stimulating treatment alone.

After two years, 24% of those given the drug alone or in combination were alive, versus 14% of the others. Average survival was 10 months with ipilimumab versus just more than six months for the others.

Doctors hope the drug can provide more benefit if given earlier and to less sick patients.