It can be said that FDA was all busy in handling things related to melanoma. Firstly, it has approved Amgen’s oncolytic virus therapy IMLYGIC for melanoma. Secondly, it has given green signal to Bristol-Myers’ Yervoy for Stage-III melanoma.

Amgen’s oncolytic virus therapy IMLYGIC is quite a different approach to immunotherapy. It requires to be injected into tumors and immediately, it starts working on cancer cells. The drug has been modified to release a naturally occurring protein, cytokine granulocte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor or GM-CSF.

The second drug is Bristol-Myers’ Yervoy, which has been approved for stage-III melanoma. Experts explained that in stage-III melanoma, tumors spread to the lymph nodes. The first treatment is surgery in which the cancer is removed from the affected lymph nodes. It is followed by sometimes, Interferon, a high-side-effect treatment.

In stage-III, a person has to choose between immunotherapy that continues for a year and has quite strong side effects and second option is to wait and see if the cancer returns. Yervoy has already been approved for stage-IV melanoma and now it can be had for stage-III patients.

It is said that the risk of cancer recurrence after two years was reduced from around two-thirds to half. It shall, however, be noted that it is not a cancer cure, but people who have responded to the treatment are happy.

There is no stopping for Amgen and Bristol-Myers, which have already started trials with each other and also with other immunotherapies and treatments.