Melanoma Vaccine

A melanoma vaccine study funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has recently shown promise in a Phase 3 clinical trial. 185 metastatic melanoma patients at 21 melanoma treatment centers were randomly assigned to receive the vaccine followed by interleukin-2, an immunotherapy drug, or interleukin-2 alone. Those patients who received the combination of treatments showed more improvement than those given interleukin-2 alone.

Since the vaccine has not been approved by the FDA, it is only available to metastatic melanoma patients currently enrolled in the clinical trial.

This study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in June of 2011.

You can learn more about clinical trials for the treatment of melanoma by using the the MRF's Clinical Trial Finder.