Dr. Kaufman on T-VEC in Melanoma

Howard L. Kaufman, MD, chief surgical officer, associate director for Clinical Science, surgical oncologist, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, discusses the oncolytic immunotherapy talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC; Imlygic) for treatment of patients with melanoma, as well as the agent's side effect profile. Kaufman shared this insight during an interview with OncLive during the recent Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Cancer Immunotherapy 101 meeting in New York City.

The FDA approved T-VEC in 2015 for patients with melanoma, but the agent is also being explored across other tumor types, Kaufman explains.

T-VEC is associated with some toxicities, including low-grade fever, fatigue, and pain at the injection site, he adds. However, these were easily managed and the agent was found to be very well tolerated overall.