Dr. Andtbacka Discusses Combination Therapy in Melanoma

Video

Robert Andtbacka, MD, associate professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery at the University of Utah School of Medicine, discusses combination therapy in melanoma.

Robert Andtbacka, MD, associate professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery at the University of Utah School of Medicine, discusses combination therapy in melanoma.

For patients with advanced disease, such as those who develop lung and liver metastases, combination therapy has shown to provide more benefit than monotherapy, says Andtbacka. In a study of the combination of ipilimumab (Yervoy) and talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC; Imlygic) versus ipilimumab alone, there was almost a doubling in response rates for patients who were given the combination, according to Andtbacka. Additionally, there does not seem to be any added adverse events than what is typically seen with ipilimumab.

The combination of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and T-VEC elicited high response rates in patients with advanced melanoma in a small study. These data have set the stage for a larger study involving this combination, Andtbacka says.

Related Videos
Shivaani Kummar, MBBS, FACP, Margaret and Lester DeArmond Endowed Chair of Cancer Research, Professor and Division Head, Division of Hematology/Medical Oncology, Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine; co-director, Center for Experimental Therapeutics, co-deputy director, Knight Cancer Institute
Andre Goy, MD
Wenxin (Vincent) Xu, MD,
Guenther Koehne, MD, PhD
Alessandro Villa, DDS, PhD, MPH
Joseph Mikhael, MD
Michael Richardson, MD
Minesh Mehta, MD
Ruben Olivares, MD
Phillip J. Koo, MD