Dermatologists treating advanced cases of metastatic melanoma had for years struggled with a lack of options to improve the survival rate of their patients. In 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two groundbreaking new drugs for the treatment of these advanced melanoma cases, ipilimumab and vemurafenib. The two drugs came out within months of each other, and immediately sparked hopes for a future of effective targeted therapies (see “Targeted therapies take aim at skin cancer”). After another year of the top dermatologic and oncologic minds examining the drugs and their effects, dermatologists look forward to further improved patient outcomes and therapeutic combinations as they better develop the use of these therapies.
Targeted therapies, improved outcomes
Once melanoma progresses to stage IV, according to the American Cancer Society, patient survival rates at the five- and 10-year intervals drop significantly, from stage IIIC levels of 40 and 24 percent to levels approaching 15 to 20 and 10 to 15 percent, respectively. Ipilimumab and vemurafenib approach this advanced stage in
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