A new study says that the combination of two
different chemotherapies and a previously approved treatment for kidney
and liver
cancers
is not effective against advanced melanoma, a rare form of
skin
cancer.
The research was presented at the 46th annual meeting of the
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago.
"With each new study, we learn something important about the
treatment of melanoma," said John M. Kirkwood, professor of
medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and leader of
the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute's (UPCI)
melanoma
and skin cancer program.
He added: "With this study, we learned that the addition of
sorafenib, a molecular inhibitor, to a traditional chemotherapy
regimen does not improve patient survival."
The phase III trial, which was sponsored by the Eastern
Cooperative
Oncology
Group (ECOG), enrolled 823 patients from seven different sites
across the country over 34 months.
The primary goal of the study was to determine whether the
addition of sorafenib, a molecular targeting agent, would improve
survival rates for patients with metastatic melanoma when added to the
chemotherapy
combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel.
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