CHICAGO .- Two new drugs led to unprecedented advances in the survival of people with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, according to separate studies.
Doctors reported yesterday that, in a study, an experimental drug showed many benefits in people with advanced disease and so quickly, that allowed those who received the comparator drug could change the new few months later.
Medicine, vemurafenib, attacks a genetic mutation that is found in half of the melanomas. The drug is being developed by Genentech, a part of Swiss drugmaker Roche and Plexxikon Inc., part of the Japanese Daiichi Sankyo.
The second study tested the drug Yervoy, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., which was recently approved in the U.S. for patients newly diagnosed with melanoma. It was found that the drug nearly doubled the number of survivors over a period of at least three years.
"We have seen a renaissance of new agents against melanoma," said Dr. Allen Lichter, chief executive of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
The new studies were presented Sunday during the annual meeting in Chicago Oncology Group and published in the electronic version of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Melanoma is increasing in the United States. The American Cancer Society estimates that last year there were 8 000 700 related deaths.
The U.S. authorities have approved only two drugs against melanoma, but with limited effectiveness. Yervoy obtained approval from the authorities in March.
Yervoy is not a chemotherapy treatment, but a focused therapy to stimulate the immune system to fight cancer.
Doctors reported yesterday that, in a study, an experimental drug showed many benefits in people with advanced disease and so quickly, that allowed those who received the comparator drug could change the new few months later.
Medicine, vemurafenib, attacks a genetic mutation that is found in half of the melanomas. The drug is being developed by Genentech, a part of Swiss drugmaker Roche and Plexxikon Inc., part of the Japanese Daiichi Sankyo.
The second study tested the drug Yervoy, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., which was recently approved in the U.S. for patients newly diagnosed with melanoma. It was found that the drug nearly doubled the number of survivors over a period of at least three years.
"We have seen a renaissance of new agents against melanoma," said Dr. Allen Lichter, chief executive of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
The new studies were presented Sunday during the annual meeting in Chicago Oncology Group and published in the electronic version of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Melanoma is increasing in the United States. The American Cancer Society estimates that last year there were 8 000 700 related deaths.
The U.S. authorities have approved only two drugs against melanoma, but with limited effectiveness. Yervoy obtained approval from the authorities in March.
Yervoy is not a chemotherapy treatment, but a focused therapy to stimulate the immune system to fight cancer.
Two new drugs produced unprecedented progress in the survival of people with melanoma
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