In Brief
New Melanoma Drug Improves Survival Rate, Researchers Report
Please note that this melanoma drug’s results were presented at a meeting.
This drug has not yet been submitted to the FDA for approval.
“10-month median survival; 4 months longer than vaccine”
” 1- and 2-year survival rate nearly double vaccine”
“Bristol-Myers Squibb Co’s (BMY.N) experimental skin cancer drug ipilimumab added an average of four months to the lives of patients with advanced melanoma, U.S. researchers said on Saturday, representing a major advance in a disease littered with drug failures.
“Melanoma is one of the deadliest cancers and can quickly spread from the skin to internal organs, such as the brain.
“Once it metastasizes, the average survival is six to nine months and we really had no effective treatments for patients who have had prior treatment for melanoma,” said Dr. Steven O’Day, one of the study’s lead investigators.”
Source: Reuters, June 6, 2010
Source: Meeting presentation, American Society of Clinical Oncology
