Share Our initial study results are very promising and show that this oncolytic virus injection, a modified coxsackievirus, when combined with existing immunotherapy is not only safe but has the potential to work better against melanoma than immunotherapy alone, said Dr. Janice Mehnert, the study s senior investigator and a medical oncologist, in a statement.
Mehnert cautioned that further testing, which is already underway, would have to prove successful before the combination treatment could become a standard of care, or go-to therapy, for patients with advanced melanoma, meaning melanoma that has spread to other parts of the body.
She added that the next phase of clinical trials will involve patients with melanoma that has become widespread, as well as in patients whose tumors, if shrunken by the drug combination, could be more easily removed by surgery.
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Early results show that a new combination drug therapy is safe and effective against advanced skin cancer in patients who were not able to have their tumors surgically removed.
The drug combination is among the first, researchers say, to demonstrate the potential value of a live common cold virus, a coxsackievirus, to infect and kill cancer cells.
The Phase I study, led by a researcher at NYU Langone Health and its Perlmutter Cancer Center, is also among the first to show how such oncolytic viruses can safely boost the action of widely used cancer therapies that help the body s immune defense system detect and kill cancer cells. Currently, such immunotherapies are only effective in shrinking melanoma tumors in just over a third of patients who receive them.
Combination Therapy Shows Promise Against Skin Cancers by Angela Mohan on April 9, 2021 at 3:36 PM
Combination drug therapy found to be safe and effective against advanced skin cancer in patients who were not able to have their tumors surgically removed.
The drug combination is among the first, researchers say, to demonstrate the potential value of a live common cold virus, a coxsackievirus, to infect and kill cancer cells.
The Phase I study, led by a researcher at NYU Langone Health and its Perlmutter Cancer Center, is also among the first to show how such oncolytic viruses can safely boost the action of widely used cancer therapies that help the body s immune defense system detect and kill cancer cells.