Two studies were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting by Professor James Larkin, Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, and colleagues.
The research highlighted the benefits of immunotherapies nivolumab and ipilimumab for different patients with melanoma. These drugs work by helping the immune system find and destroy cancer cells as they spread.
The latest results from the global Checkmate 067 trial show nearly half of patients with stage 4 melanoma are still alive more than six years after being treated with nivolumab and ipilimumab in combination, with an overall survival rate of 49 per cent. Data also showed that when taken alone, nivolumab had an overall survival rate of 42 per cent.
Patient Vicky Brown, 68 from Cardiff, was one of the first patients recruited to the Checkmate 067 trial after her melanoma came back in 2013.
She said: “I am so grateful to have had this extra time with my family. Without the trial I would not have the life I have lived in the past eight years. I have been well enough to travel (pre-COVID) to all the places on my bucket list and even managed to go on an Alaskan cruise just before the pandemic. The year before I went to Australia and to Dubai.
“Most of all I have loved watching my grandchildren grow up. I have a nine-year-old granddaughter who was a toddler when I was first diagnosed. I also have a six-year-old grandson who I would not have been able to get to know if it had not been for my treatment at The Royal Marsden. It’s more than what I could have ever asked for.”
Results from another trial, Checkmate 238, revealed nivolumab or ipilimumab reduced rates of recurrence of in-transit melanoma, a form of stage 3 melanoma. This form of the disease occurs when the cancer spreads through a lymph vessel and grows away from the primary tumour, before reaching the nearest lymph nodes. This study was important as patients with in-transit metastatic melanoma have often not been included in stage 3 melanoma trials.
Professor James Larkin (pictured), a lead investigator of the Checkmate 067 and 238 trials, said: “The results from both trials are very encouraging for patients with both stage 3 and 4 melanoma, particularly as the disease was previously considered untreatable once it had spread.
“Immunotherapies like nivolumab and ipilimumab have completely changed our survival expectations for patients with difficult to treat cancers. This progress is thanks to pioneering research and clinical trials undertaken at cancer centres across the world, including The Royal Marsden.”
Immunotherapy research at The Royal Marsden is support by The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. The Checkmate 067 and Checkmate 238 trials are funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb.
