Australian dermatologists reveal new frontier in melanoma treatment

Pharma News: Melanoma Institute Australia is taking centre stage at the prestigious American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, showcasing the new frontier in melanoma treatment.

MIA researchers are presenting an unheralded three orals, chairing and speaking at an ASCO education session, and delivering more than 20 other presentations and abstracts, reflecting the ground-breaking and life-saving work being undertaken at Melanoma Institute Australia.

“To say we are punching above our weight is an understatement,” said Professor Georgina Long AO, Co-Medical Director of Melanoma Institute Australia, University of Sydney.

“Australia leads the world in melanoma rates so is fitting that we also lead the world in research and clinical advances to save lives from melanoma, and we are proud to share our learnings with our international counterparts,” she said.

“Amongst the breakthroughs being presented are the success of drug therapy in preventing disease spread in high risk early stage melanoma patients, and the use of a new type of immunotherapy combination to double progression free survival for advanced melanoma patients,” added Professor Richard Scolyer AO, Co-Medical Director of Melanoma Institute Australia, University of Sydney.

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In a breakthrough which looks set to change clinical practice globally, Professor Long gave an oral presentation on latest results from the two-year KEYNOTE-716 trial of MSD’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab). It involved 976 high risk early stage patients who had undergone surgery to have their primary disease removed. Early results revealed that giving these patients the same immunotherapy drugs approved for use in advanced patients, reduced their risk of disease recurrence (local or distant) by 35%.

Professor Long provided the first analysis of the treatment’s effectiveness in preventing distant metastases, or disease spread to distant organs.

“These patients historically have a high risk of relapse and disease recurrence after 24 months with poor outcomes,” Professor Long said. “Rather than having to wait and see if their melanoma would return, this trial uses drugs to mop up any cancer cells that may remain after surgery.

“Results show it is effective in stopping these patients from progressing to advanced melanoma, which represents a significant step forward in our mission to reach zero deaths from melanoma.”

Professor Long also delivered an oral plenary session on the RELATIVITY-047 clinical trial, which showed the effectiveness of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (BMS) Opdualag, a fixed-dose combination of LAG-3 inhibitor relatlimab and PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor Opdivo (nivolumab), for previously untreated advanced melanoma patients. The combination therapy continued to demonstrate a progression free survival (PFS) benefit vs. monotherapy in patients with previously untreated metastatic or unresectable melanoma, consistent with the primary analysis. The combination treatment demonstrated a 20% reduction in risk of death and numerically improved overall survival (OS) rates, although statistical significance was not reached for this secondary endpoint.

Additionally, Professor Long presented on the follow up from the Neo-Trio clinical trial, which used the ground breaking neoadjuvant platform to quickly assess which drugs in which combination were most effective in preventing stage III patients from progressing to advanced disease.

More than 20 other Melanoma Institute Australia research projects also featured at ASCO, including the analysis of drugs targeting liver metastases, and long term results of clinical trials using immunotherapy to tackle various stages of disease.

“Melanoma Institute Australia’s research output is fuelling global efforts to save lives from melanoma and we are extremely proud of the leading role our team continues to play in pushing the research and scientific boundaries,” Professor Richard Scolyer added.

“Our advances will not only save lives from melanoma, but also stand to extend to treatment of other cancers too.”

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