Drugs that unleash the body’s immune system to combat tumors could allow patients with advanced melanoma to live far longer than ever before, researchers gathered at the nation’s largest cancer conference say.
“It’s a completely different world for patients with metastatic melanoma, to talk about the majority of patients being alive for years rather than weeks or months,” said Dr. Jedd D. Wolchok, a melanoma specialist at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, interviewed at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology here.
Some experts note that there was initially huge excitement about so-called targeted therapies and about drugs that block the flow of blood to tumors. While those approaches have made a difference, they have not been the panaceas enthusiasts envisioned, and that is likely to be the case with immunotherapy as well.
Related on the SLP
Read the full, original story: Cancer Researchers Report Longer Survival Rates With Immunotherapy
