Melanoma News and Research

Latest Melanoma News and Research

Daiichi Sankyo acquires Plexxikon

Plexxikon Inc. today announced that its acquisition by Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited, a Japan-based global pharmaceutical company, has been successfully completed. Clearance under the Hart Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act has been received. Under the terms of the deal, Plexxikon shareholders will receive $805 million up-front, with near-term milestone payments associated with the approval of PLX4032 totaling an additional $130 million.

4 Apr 2011

Positive results from GDC-0973, GDC-0941 combination therapy Phase I trial against cancer

The combination of two compounds that inhibit two of the most frequently mutated cancer pathways is showing promise in an ongoing Phase I trial, according to data presented at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, held here April 2-6.

4 Apr 2011

Life Technologies launches new TaqMan Mutation Detection Assays

Life Technologies Corporation today announced the launch of its TaqMan Mutation Detection Assays -- highly sensitive and novel molecular analysis research tools with the precision to detect a single mutant molecule hiding in a background of 1 million normal copies.

4 Apr 2011

Cancer Commons researchers publish MDMM paper in PLoS ONE journal

Cancer Commons, an initiative of CollabRx, a provider of information technology to personalize cancer treatments and accelerate research, announces the publication of a molecular disease model of melanoma which classifies the disease into molecular subtypes, rather than traditional histological or cellular subtypes, and describes treatment guidelines for each subtype, including specific assays, drugs, and clinical trials.

31 Mar 2011

Merck submits Erbitux indication extension to EMA for NSCLC treatment

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced today that it has submitted an indication extension to the European Medicines Agency for the approval of Erbitux in combination with standard 1st line platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer with high epidermal growth factor receptor expression.

30 Mar 2011

MRF: FDA's decision on Yervoy offers new treatment options for patients with melanoma

Thirteen years of waiting is now over for melanoma patients. That's how long it's been since the last therapy became available to treat the most lethal form of skin cancer – melanoma. The FDA today announced approval of Yervoy, an immunotherapy treatment for advanced melanoma.

28 Mar 2011

U.S. FDA approves Yervoy to treat patients with late-stage melanoma

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Yervoy to treat patients with late-stage melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer.

28 Mar 2011

ALCMI launches new CASTLE study to treat lung cancer

The Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute today announced the enrollment of the initial subjects into its inaugural clinical trial known as CASTLE, targeting 250 subjects over two years among academic and community medical centers in the United States.

28 Mar 2011

FDA approves ipilimumab for metastatic melanoma treatment

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today its approval of a new treatment for advanced melanoma, the deadliest and most difficult-to-treat form of skin cancer.

28 Mar 2011

BMY receives FDA approval for YERVOY to treat metastatic melanoma

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved YERVOY 3 mg/kg for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

28 Mar 2011

Plasmid containing Sindbis replicase genes can destruct lung cancer

Alpha viruses, such as Sindbis virus, carry their genetic information on a single strand of RNA. On infection they use a protein, replicase, to produce double stranded RNA which is used as genetic material to make more viruses. However the body recognizes dsRNA as foreign, and infected cells initiate an immune response.

28 Mar 2011

FDA approves ipilimumab to treat metastatic melanoma

The US Food and Drug Administration announced today that the drug ipilimumab has been approved for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma. It is the first drug ever shown to improve overall survival for patients with advanced melanoma.

28 Mar 2011

MMRF hails new publication of multiple myeloma genome analysis in Nature journal

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation today hailed a new publication in Nature as a major step forward in the organization's efforts to advance a personalized medicine approach in multiple myeloma.

24 Mar 2011

New insights into multiple myeloma research

Scientists have unveiled the most comprehensive picture to date of the full genetic blueprint of multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. A study of the genomes from 38 cancer samples has yielded new and unexpected insights into the events that lead to this form of cancer and could influence the direction of multiple myeloma research.

24 Mar 2011

Zebrafish model of human melanoma reveals new cancer gene

Looking at the dark stripes on the tiny zebrafish you might not expect that they hold a potentially important clue for discovering a treatment for the deadly skin disease melanoma. Yet melanocytes, the same cells that are are responsible for the pigmentation of zebrafish stripes and for human skin color, are also where melanoma originates.

24 Mar 2011

New insights into cancer genome may lead to designer drugs for myeloma

Patients with myeloma could benefit from ‘designer’ drugs in the future after new genome-mapping technology has allowed scientists to identify a full genetic blueprint of the mutations which drive the bone marrow cancer.

23 Mar 2011

BMY's ipilimumab Phase III study against metastatic melanoma meets primary endpoint

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company today announced that a clinical trial -- known as study 024 -- of its investigational compound ipilimumab has met the primary endpoint of improving overall survival in previously-untreated patients with metastatic melanoma.

22 Mar 2011

JCCF event honors Showtime Networks President with Humanitarian Award

The Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation at UCLA hosts its 16th annual Taste for a Cure Friday, April 15, 2011 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. This year's event honors Showtime Networks President of Entertainment, David Nevins, with the Gil Nickel Humanitarian Award.

19 Mar 2011

Modified mRNA raises hope for safe and effective cancer drugs

Modern gene therapies raise hopes of combating many diseases until now considered terminal. Nowadays, however, the methods are expensive and carry a risk of severe complications.

18 Mar 2011

BUSM scientists identify new biomarker and melanoma treatment target

Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, have identified a potential new biomarker and therapeutic target for melanoma.

18 Mar 2011