Skin Cancer

Five-year findings from the phase 3 COMBI-AD trial revealed that the combination of dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) led to sustained long-term relapse-free survival (RFS) benefit compared with placebo for patients with resected, stage III BRAF V600E/K–mutant melanoma, said Axel Hauschild, MD, PhD.

The FDA has granted an accelerated approval to an updated dosing schedule for pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to include an every-6-weeks option at 400 mg across all indications in adult patients.

Although the emergence of more targeted and immunotherapies continues to expand the melanoma treatment paradigm, surgery remains an important tool in the management of these patients, according to Omid Hamid, MD.

T-cell therapies, such as tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy, T-cell receptor (TCR) therapy, and CAR T-cell therapy, which have shown preliminary signals of activity, are poised to have a dramatic impact in metastatic melanoma, according to Jason J. Luke, MD, FACP.

The role of radical surgical resection in advanced melanoma has become more conservative and cosmetically sensitive, according to Richard L. Shapiro, MD.

Optimal management of treatment-related dermatologic adverse events (AEs) in patients with melanoma is essential for proper care, according to Tracey Liebman, MD.

Do a head-to-toe scan when discussing adverse events for melanoma treatment, says a nurse practitioner.

Being able to quickly detect and properly manage adverse events (AEs) that arise in patients with melanoma who are receiving immunotherapy is key to improving their experience with treatment, explained Kathleen Madden, RN, MSN, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, APHN.

Despite the approvals of targeted agents and immunotherapy in the treatment paradigm of metastatic melanoma, clinical trials remain the gold standard for patients with newly diagnosed disease, according to Anna C. Pavlick, DO.

The future of melanoma treatment will include many combinations, explained Mario Sznol, MD, professor of medicine and co-leader of cancer immunology at the Yale Cancer Center.

In this special edition podcast, we spoke with both a physician and a nurse about the management of immune-related adverse events in patients with melanoma.

There are 3 major immunothearpy agents in the melanoma space. Hear one expert talk about them.

An expert discusses recent exciting advances in the treatment landscape of metastatic melanoma.

Recent findings showed patients with advanced melanoma had a favorable complete response to nivolumab and ipilimumab due to potential biomarkers in the disease.

The first-in-human trial for tebentafusp findings are in, and they show promise for managing a patients side effects to it.

In a phase III trial of nivolumab/ipilimumab to treat patients with melanoma in the adjuvant setting results showed the drugs missed their coprimary end point.

Nurses must stay up to date on immunotherapy advancements, since they are the frontline communicators with patients.

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) monitoring is clinically valid in predicting whether patients with unresectable, metastatic BRAF-mutant melanoma will benefit from dabafenib (Tafinlar) alone or in combination with trametinib (Mekinist).

Healthcare providers should not base cancer care with immune checkpoint inhibitors on gender, according to recent study findings.

May is Skin Cancer Awareness month. What are some of the important conversations nurses should be having with their patients about the disease?

Compared to the general population, survivors of childhood cancer who live 5 or more years from diagnosis are at a higher risk for skin cancer.

Combination therapy has been the biggest recent advance in the melanoma space, but there is still more work to be done, according to Douglas B. Johnson, MD.

Each type of cancer treatment has its own adverse event (AE) profile, and BRAF and MEK inhibitors are no different.

Combining two checkpoint blockades can be very efficacious in treating metastatic melanoma, but the benefits come with increased risk of adverse events, too.

The FDA approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the adjuvant treatment of patients with resected, high-risk stage III melanoma.

The FDA has granted an accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of recurrent locally advanced or metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma in adult and children.

Rapid changes in the treatment landscape for melanoma have prompted the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) to issue updated consensus guidelines to help clinicians stratify patients, choose optimal treatment regimens, and manage immune-related adverse events (irAEs) in patients with stage II to IV disease.

The fast pace of development in the immunotherapy and targeted therapy space has outstripped the availability of head-to-head comparative data for adjuvant melanoma treatment. Therefore, Hussein Tawbi, MD, PhD, recommended for healthcare professionals to communicate the relative merits and risks of both options to patients and making a shared decision.

The combination use of adjuvant dabrafenib (Tafinlar) plus trametinib (Mekinist) has continued to show a significant relapse-free survival benefit among patients with resected stage III BRAF-mutant melanoma.

The FDA has approved the PD-1 inhibitor cemiplimab (Libtayo) for the treatment of patients with metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) or patients with locally advanced CSCC who are not candidates for curative surgery or curative radiation.