Skin Cancer

During the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, researchers presented results from a phase 2b clinical trial demonstrating significant improvement in recurrence-free survival in patients with high-risk melanoma who were treated with a combination of an investigational personalized mRNA-based vaccine plus the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda), compared with pembrolizumab alone.

On March 22, 2023, the FDA granted accelerated approval to retifanlimab-dlwr (Zynyz; Incyte Corporation), a programmed cell death 1–blocking antibody, for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic or recurrent locally advanced Merkel-cell carcinoma.