title: Major Changes in Systemic Therapy for Advanced Melanoma.
abstract: Over the past 5 years, a host of new agents have radically changed the therapeutic landscape in advanced melanoma; gone are the days when the only active agents were interferon and dacarbazine. Nearly 25 years ago, few patients with stage IV melanoma reached 2-year survival; today, these survival curves have risen substantially. At the NCCN 21st Annual Conference, John A. Thompson, MD, discussed updates with longer duration of patient follow-up for immune checkpoint therapies. He also reviewed some of the newer approvals in advanced melanoma, including the combination of ipilimumab and nivolumab, high-dose ipilimumab, the oncolytic virus therapy talimogene laherparepvec, and the molecularly targeted combination of the BRAF and MEK inhibitors vemurafenib and cobimetinib.
authors.affiliation: Presented by John A. Thompson, MD, Division of Medical Oncology, University of Washington School of Medicine/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*