Last week the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded approval of Yervoy (ipilimumab) to include pediatric patients ages 12 years and older with unresectable or metastatic melanoma. Yervoy, a monoclonal antibody that activates the immune system by blocking the CTLA-4 receptor, was first approved in 2011 to treat unresectable or metastatic melanoma in adults.
The MRF's Executive Director shares his thoughts on the recent controversy involving a New York Times' editor and his criticism of breast cancer patient Lisa Adams.
We’ve heard the story before: a woman is treated successfully for her melanoma, only to have the cancer come back after ten years. How? Why? One explanation is something called “tumor heterogeneity.”
I recently met with a company called Delcath, which has a procedure designed to combat metastases to the liver. It works by infusing high doses of chemotherapy directly into the liver through the bloodstream. As the blood exits the liver, it is shunted outside the body and run through special filters that remove the majority of the toxic chemotherapy compound. The blood then goes back into the body’s general circulation.
Yesterday, the MRF hosted a live webinar focusing on how to manage melanoma treatment in a rapidly changing landscape. As we prepared for the webinar, I heard disturbing stories of many patients receiving care that is sloppy, outdated, or just wrong:
The FDA is launching a new program in which they will consider and incorporate the patient perspective into drug development. They will choose 20 diseases for the program and the MRF is lobbying to have melanoma be one of them. As we all know, the patient perspective is important in any disease, but it is especially true with melanoma.
Here is my letter to the FDA expressing this great need in the field of melanoma.
Several years ago, country comedians Archie Campbell and Roy Clark made famous a sketch based on the phrases “that’s good” and “that’s bad”. Archie: My uncle died.
Guest blog post by melanoma survivor and MRF volunteer advocate, Wayne Conners:
