Drug Sequencing in Melanoma

at the 11th Annual International Congress on Targeted Therapies in Cancer.

Jeffrey A. Sosman, MD, Professor of Medicine, Director, Melanoma and Tumor Immunotherpay Program, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, discusses drug sequencing for patients with melanoma

In the practical sense, the questions regarding drug sequencing and selection are very important, Sosman says. Many in the oncology community believe that some patients will have a better chance at long term durable response if they are treated with immunotherapy first.

Clinical Pearls

Sometimes, when a patient treated with targeted therapies relapses, they do so with fairly aggressive disease and may not respond to immunotherapy. Sosman says that treatment for melanoma remains a judgment call for an individual patient and oncologist.

• There remains a need to determine the best drug sequence and selection in melanoma
• Some patients who relapse do so with fairly aggressive disease and may not respond to immunotherapy at that time
• In certain groups of patients, it would be better to treat with immunotherapy first