Dr. Sullivan on Findings From the ENCORE 601 Trial in Melanoma

Ryan J. Sullivan, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, assistant professor of medicine, Hematology/Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), MGH Cancer Center, discusses findings from the ENCORE 601 trial in melanoma.

In the phase Ib/II ENCORE 601 trial presented at the 2019 AACR Annual Meeting, investigators presented the interim results of the combination of the HDAC inhibitor entinostat and the anti—PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma who had progressed on or after prior anti–PD-1 therapy.

The combination was found to be effective and well tolerated, says Sullivan. Among the 53 evaluable patients in the melanoma cohort, 9 experienced a partial response to the combination and 1 patient experienced a complete response. Moreover, the responses appeared to be durable. At 1 year, 10 patients were free of disease progression.

Tissue and liquid biopsy were also suggestive of mechanistic changes as a result of the additive effects of entinostat, adds Sullivan.