Opinion
Video
Nikhil Khushalani, MD, provides a thorough exploration of the current treatment landscape in adjuvant therapy for melanoma, presenting insights into advancing strategies and developments in the field, while also discussing key findings from the CheckMate 238 and KEYNOTE-054 trials.
This is a video synopsis/summary of an OncLive Insights® discussion involving Afreen Shariff, MD, MBBS; Javid Moslehi, MD; and Nikhil Khushalani, MD.
This segment provides an overview of the adjuvant therapy landscape for melanoma, focusing on stage III resected nodal disease. Dr Khushalani notes that adjuvant therapy has progressed from interferon to anti–CTLA-4 therapy with ipilimumab to now checkpoint inhibitors and BRAF/MEK (mitogen-activated extracellular signal regulated kinase) inhibitors.
The two main adjuvant therapy categories now are immune checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy (nivolumab or pembrolizumab) or BRAF/MEK inhibitor therapy for BRAF V600 mutant tumors. Both approaches improve relapse-free survival compared with placebo based on clinical trial data.
For BRAF V600–mutant resected stage III melanoma, the COMBI-AD trial showed improved relapse-free and overall survival with adjuvant dabrafenib/trametinib compared with placebo. Meanwhile, adjuvant ipilimumab plus nivolumab did not outperform nivolumab alone in patients with resected stage III disease.
Video synopsis is AI-generated and reviewed by OncLive® editorial staff.