Neoadjuvant therapy in bulky Stage III melanoma

Georgina Long, MD, PhD, from the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, gives an overview of her talk on neoadjuvant therapy in bulky Stage III melanoma at the European Cancer Congress of the European Cancer Organisation (ECCO) 2017 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. She discusses a trial (NCT01972347) using drugs effective in advanced melanoma at an earlier stage, whose results show that 50% of patients with bulky Stage III melanoma who received neoadjuvant treatment with dabrafenib and trametinib showed a complete pathologic response (cPR) following tumor resection, with the effect of this on long-term outcome still being assessed. Prof. Long highlights the importance of this trial not just in showing that a complete pathologic response is possible, but also in establishing a model to explore new treatments, therefore speeding up the drug development field. She encourages patients with bulky Stage III melanoma to participate in clinical trials with neoadjuvant therapy if given the opportunity.