Four-Drug Regimen for Melanoma Disappoints

Patients with metastatic melanoma are usually treated with chemotherapy or immunotherapy or both. Common chemotherapy drugs include cisplatin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (when combined, this is called the "CVD" regimen). Immunotherapy agents include interferon-alfa (INF-alfa) and interleukin-2 (IL-2). Unfortunately, a new clinical trial that attempted to combine the two approaches at the same time -- the "biochemotherapy" approach -- has ended in failure.

The 395 people in this phase III study received either the three-drug CVD regimen alone or in combination with INF-alfa and IL-2. The combination showed a modest improvement in some measures, but this did not translate into the measure that really counts: overall survival (9.0 vs. 8.7 months) or the percentage of patients alive at 1 year (41% vs. 36.9%), which was no different than the CVD-treated group. Even worse, the combination approach resulted in more toxic side effects. The authors concluded that "considering the extra toxicity and complexity, the [biochemotherapy] regimen cannot be recommended for patients with metastatic melanoma."

While disappointing, remember that failure is an intrinsic (and necessary) part of cancer research. Temporary setbacks like this will not impede progress toward more effective treatments for this devastating disease. Indeed, there are over 700 other clinical trials devoted to melanoma underway right now!

_Source:

_{Atkins MB, et al. Phase III trial comparing concurrent biochemotherapy with cisplatin, vinblastine, dacarbazine, interleukin-2, and interferon alfa-2b with cisplatin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine alone in patients with metastatic melanoma: A trial coordinated by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 22 November 2008.}