Optimism Surrounding Immunotherapy for Cancer Care
Clifford A. Hudis, MD, Attending Physician, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discusses his optimism surrounding immunotherapy for cancer care.
Clifford A. Hudis, MD, ASCO President-Elect, Chief, Breast Cancer Medicine Service, Attending Physician, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discusses his optimism surrounding immunotherapy for cancer care.
Hudis says that following the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting, this is now the second year of active manipulation of the immune system as a way of treating refractory diseases like melanoma. Now, there is substantial evidence that combinations of drugs activate the immune system.
Clinical Pearls
At the 2013 ASCO meeting, new immunotherapy data were presented in metastatic melanoma. Hudis is optimistic because of the narrow application in a difficult-to-treat disease and because the results indicate the ability to treat a variety of metastatic solid tumors.
- There is now evidence to support the efficacy of drug combinations in activating the immune system
- Hudis says that immunotherapy trials in melanoma indicate the ability to manipulate the immune system to treat a variety of metastatic solid tumors
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