SMR Congress

With an estimated 5-year survival rate of 50% and an ongoing issue of resistance, next steps with immunotherapy in melanoma will focus on stratifying patients, personalizing therapy, and refining localized regimens.

The addition of anti–PD-1/PD-L1 to combination BRAF and MEK inhibition has been shown to improve progression-free survival and duration of response in patients with BRAF-mutated melanoma, suggesting potential to overcome resistance to targeted approaches.

Jason J. Luke, MD, discusses the recent advancements with BRAF-targeted therapies and PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors in melanoma.

Jason J. Luke, MD, FACP, discusses the importance of BRAF in melanoma.

Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, discusses the results of the phase 3 COMBI-AD trial with dabrafenib plus trametinib in patients with resected, stage III BRAF V600E/K–mutant melanoma.

A triplet combining the PD-1 inhibitor spartalizumab with dabrafenib and trametinib led to a 12-month overall survival rate of 86.1% for patients with previously untreated advanced BRAF V600–mutant melanoma.

Ryan J. Sullivan, MD, discusses the rationale for BRAF/MEK combinations and immunotherapeutic combinations in melanoma and ongoing research examining triplet regimens.

Georgina V. Long, BSc, PhD, MBBS, FRACP, discusses the findings from a subgroup analyses of the CheckMate-067 trial.

The combination of cobimetinib (Cotellic) and vemurafenib (Zelboraf) maintained an advantage for overall survival and objective response rate in patients with BRAF-positive melanoma versus vemurafenib alone.

Isabella C. Glitza, MD, discusses a single-center phase I/Ib trial of concurrent intravenous and intrathecal nivolumab for patients with metastatic melanoma and leptomeningeal disease.

Grant McArthur, PhD, discusses significant results from the final analysis of the coBRIM trial, which evaluated the 5-year survival data of cobimetinib plus vemurafenib in patients with BRAF V600-mutated advanced melanoma.

Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC; Imlygic) prior to surgery was associated with improved recurrence-free survival and overall survival compared with surgery alone in patients with resectable advanced melanoma.