Melanoma & Skin Cancer

BRAF mutation testing has become an essential tool in the diagnostic workup and management of patients with advanced melanoma. Activating mutations of BRAF are present in 40% to 60% of all melanoma cases, with more than 90% of mutations found at codon 600 in exon 15.

Yvonee Saenger, MD, discusses ongoing developments with immunotherapy in melanoma.

The FDA has assigned a standard review designation to a new drug application for binimetinib as a treatment for patients with NRAS-mutant advanced melanoma.

Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD, discusses two pivotal studies, their impacts, and how far the field of immunotherapy has come in melanoma.

With several more melanoma treatments poised to emerge from the pipeline, data on the optimal way to incorporate these novel drugs into practice lag far behind the breakneck pace of approvals.

Norman E. Sharpless, MD, discusses the impact of the CheckMate-069 trial, the toxicities that are associated with nivolumab (Opdivo)/ipilimumab (Yervoy), and what the future holds for immunotherapy combinations in the field of melanoma.

Combination therapy with cobimetinib (Cotellic) and vemurafenib (Zelboraf) reduced the risk of death by 30% compared with vemurafenib alone in patients with BRAF-positive advanced melanoma.

Jeffery S. Weber, MD, PhD, discusses findings from the phase II CheckMate-064 trial, in which patients were randomized to receive either nivolumab followed by ipilimumab followed by nivolumab maintenance therapy, or ipilimumab followed by nivolumab and maintenance therapy with nivolumab.

Steven A. Fischkoff, MD, chief medical officer of Lion Biotechnologies, Inc, discusses his vision for tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy for patients with melanoma.

Howard L. Kaufman, MD, chief surgical officer, associate director for clinical science, surgical oncologist, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, discusses the phase II JAVELIN Merkel 200 study examining avelumab as a treatment for patients with Merkel cell carcinoma.

The hedgehog inhibitor sonidegib (Odomzo) showed continued antitumor activity with no new safety concerns in patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma.

The hedgehog inhibitor vismodegib (Erivedge) had an estimated disease control rate of 92.9% in the STEVIE trial, the largest ever study conducted in advanced basal cell carcinoma.