The price of melanoma therapy could soon be slashed thanks to a new delivery system developed by US firm OncoSec.

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This article discusses the issues surrounding clinical trial research design for ‘personalized medicine focusing on patient subpopulations‘.

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This provides results of a clinical trial of veliparib combined with temozolomide(TMZ) in treating Stage III – Stage IV metastatic melanoma. The study reports ‘nearly doubled the numerical median progression-free survival (PFS) compared to TMZ alone, but that these differences were not statistically significant.’

The trial enrolled 346 patients to ‘a three-arm, double-blind, placebo-controlled study comparing the efficacy of 20 mg or 40 mg veliparib + TMZ to placebo + TMZ in prolonging progression-free survival (PFS).‘

The combined treatment was well tolerated by the study population and study of sub-populations continues.

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This article reports on retrospective analysis of the disease specifics of melanoma in children vs. young adults. The researchers found that children with melanoma were, overall, more likely than adults with the disease to have metastases in the lymph nodes surrounding the tumor, known as sentinel lymph nodes.

Because melanoma remains relatively rare in children — less than 4 percent of cases occur in pediatric patients — both diagnosis and treatment can be dangerously delayed in this group, experts say.

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This is  a new melanoma detection technology using laser light and sound to produce 3-D images of melanoma lesions. This technology is known as ‘photoacoustic tomography’. The produced images promise to assist the surgeon in removal of the diseased tissue.

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This article discusses the creation of The Immunotherapeutics Program at the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center is directed by Michael I. Nishimura, PhD,  principal investigator of a new five-year, $16.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute.

This offers patients in the Midwest immunotherapy options using the patients own lymphocytes to attack the melanoma metastases. The first trial will be a Phase I program for 15 patients.

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Mela Sciences lead product MelaFind, a medical device to test skin lesions, received pre-market approval from the FDA in September 2011. The device is intended for use by trained dermatologists in comto be used with biopsy. This device has promise for aiding in the exam of those questionable lesions.

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Medpage Today

No Overall Survival Benefit to Crossover Muddies Survival Analysis

This reports on a phase III trial of percutaneous hepatic perfusion using melphalan in patients with liver dominant metastasis. Ocular or uveal melanomas often metastasize to the liver. Progression free survival improved but overall survival was not significantly different at one year than the control group.

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A new diagnostic device, MoleMate, has been approved by the FDA and is available in the US. This is a non-invasive exam that uses low-level laser light to penetrate the skin surface allowing for images of the tissue previously unavailable.

The device has been used by physicians in the United Kingdom and Australia. Physicians indicate that it may provide enough information that some lesions may not require biopsy.

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A retrospective analysis of “thousands of medical records in the Danish Cancer Registry showed that patients with the skin cancer melanoma, and who also were taking a specific beta-blocker, had much lower mortality rates than did patients not taking the drug.”

Researchers at Ohio State University who performed the review will be designing a clinical trial to study the effect in melanoma patients.

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