Melanoma: Retreating with Yervoy
Yervoy is recently approved drug that induces an ummune response against melanoma cells. )Some patients have only a partial response or progress afer responding, and owing to there not being many other good options, many doctors would retreat in such a situation. However, Yervoy is a toxic drug and the decision to use it again is not a trivial one. It is , unfortunately, not known whether retreatment is beneficial. There is a study looking at this question: Study to Compare the Effect of Ipilimumab Retreatment With Chemotherapy in Advanced Melanoma, NCT01709162. The purpose of the study is to determine whether additional doses of Ipilimumab have a positive effect on survival in the treatment of advanced melanoma that has progressed after successful initial treatment with Ipilimumab. In the meantime, NCCN supports retratment providing that there had been a response after first use and no toxicity and that 3 months have passed.
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