New Drug Shows Promise Against Advanced Melanoma
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Manuel Faba Ortega/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -– Melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, takes about 10,000 lives per year, and the median survival time for those diagnosed with its most severe form is a year.
Now, a new medication called Keytruda may help cut down those numbers.
In a recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine involving those with advanced melanoma that compared Keytruda to the drug Yervoy, a commonly used medication for the disease, those taking Keytruda had a 37-percent higher chance of being alive after 12 months.
In addition to an improved survival rate, the patients taking this new drug also had fewer side effects, according to researchers.
Since the trial has lasted less than a year, researchers say it’s unknown if it will affect the survival rates for less severe forms, which can be much higher, in the same way.
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