Ongoing analysis throughout the advanced-stage melanoma therapeutic area is starting to recommend that shorter remedy durations could also be ample for some sufferers, difficult the present standard-of-care consisting of a two-year length of immunotherapy, in response to Dr. Vincent Ma.
To delve additional into this subject, he sat down for an interview with CURE, through which Ma mentioned latest trial information which had been shared on the 2025 ASCO Annual Assembly that checked out this analysis query. He went on to say that based mostly on this ASCO information, definitive conclusions can’t but be drawn.
Ma is an assistant professor and school member within the Division of Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care throughout the Division of Drugs and a school affiliate of the Division of Dermatology, all on the College of Wisconsin, College of Drugs and Public Well being.
Transcript:
One of many fascinating research introduced this 12 months was the DANTE trial. This was a section 3 research analyzing whether or not two years of immunotherapy — the present customary minimal — is more practical than one 12 months for sufferers with advanced-stage melanoma.
To supply some background, the present customary for treating advanced-stage melanoma includes a minimal of two years of remedy as a result of that is how these medication had been studied in large-scale medical trials. Nonetheless, each suppliers and sufferers usually marvel if two years of remedy is actually crucial. Two years of remedy generally is a important burden for sufferers, who should take day without work from work each three to 4 weeks for remedy. There is no clear organic or scientific rationale for a two-year length; some sufferers reply to remedy after only some doses, and the results of immunotherapy may even persist after remedy stops. This was the premise for the DANTE trial: to find out if two years of remedy is actually wanted, or if one 12 months of remedy may very well be ample.
The research was primarily performed in the UK, with an preliminary purpose of enrolling 1,200 sufferers. Sadly, the research needed to shut after a number of years, accruing solely 166 sufferers in complete. Due to this fact, the research was thought of underpowered, which means it did not attain the goal variety of sufferers wanted to statistically show if one 12 months versus two years yielded the identical or higher outcomes. The research’s purpose was to show that one 12 months was non-inferior to 2 years.
What the research did discover was that, total, one 12 months of remedy was not statistically inferior to 2 years of remedy by way of progression-free survival. This means that we might probably scale back remedy to 1 12 months as a substitute of two. Nonetheless, as a result of research being underpowered, the investigators concluded that the usual of care ought to stay a minimal of two years of immunotherapy for sufferers with advanced-stage melanoma.
One essential query the research didn’t totally reply is the general survival outcomes between two years versus one 12 months, and this stays an unanswered query. Nonetheless, different research are at the moment underway which are exploring the function of giving much less remedy based mostly on how sufferers reply to remedy. Due to this fact, that is neither the primary nor the final time we’ll hear a couple of research investigating the correct length of immunotherapy for sufferers with advanced-stage melanoma.
Transcript has been edited for readability and conciseness
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