Melanoma & Skin Cancer

February 9, 2021 - The FDA has approved cemiplimab-rwlc as the first immunotherapy for use in patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma that has previously been treated with a hedgehog pathway inhibitor (HHI) or for whom a HHI is not appropriate.

Ryan Sullivan, MD, discusses the future of triplet therapies for patients with melanoma.

Ragini Kudchadkar, MD, discusses future research directions for patients with rare, non-melanoma skin cancers.

January 25, 2021 - The FDA has granted toripalimab a fast track designation for use in the frontline treatment of patients with mucosal melanoma.

Reinhard Dummer, MD, shares his approach for selecting between targeted approaches and immunotherapy agents in the adjuvant treatment of patients with melanoma.

Although recent benefits do not pertain to all cancers and “cure” remains a relatively uncommon event, oncologists have an increasing number of molecularly targeted and immunotherapeutic strategies to employ based on objectively meaningful clinical trial outcomes.

Ryan Sullivan, MD, discusses treatment sequencing with targeted therapy and immunotherapy in melanoma.

Mario Sznol, MD, Yale Cancer Center, discusses the multidisciplinary management of toxicities associated with immunotherapy in patients with melanoma.

January 11, 2021 - The FDA has granted fast track designations to cavrotolimod for use in combination with a PD-1 therapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma that is refractory to previous PD-1 blockade and for use in combination with a PD-1/PD-L1 agent in those with advanced or metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma that is refractory to previous PD-1/PD-L1 blockade.

January 11, 2021 — The FDA has granted an orphan drug designation to the novel intratumoral immunotherapy agent PVSRIPO for the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma, specifically those with stage IIIB-IV disease.

Mario Sznol, MD, discusses toxicities associated with immunotherapy in patients with melanoma.

Jason J. Luke, MD, FACP, compares predictive and prognostic biomarkers in melanoma.

The small interfering RNA therapeutic STP705 has been found to induce high rates of histological clearance with a favorable toxicity profile in patients with squamous cell skin cancer.

Although basal cell carcinoma generally has a good prognosis, improving tolerance to targeted Hedgehog inhibitors and optimizing second-line treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors are important for the small subset of patients who develop locally advanced or metastatic disease.

Mario Sznol, MD, discusses the challenges of managing immune-related toxicities in melanoma.

December 16, 2020 — The combination of nivolumab with ipilimumab demonstrated activity in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma with encouraging responses.