Drugs before surgery in Stage III melanoma prevents recurrence and metastasis

A recent Nature Medicine publication, which pooled data from six clinical trials investigating the effect of neoadjuvant drug therapy before surgery in melanoma, has shown that the pre-operative approach was hugely effective at limiting recurrence and metastasis. The researchers, based at Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA; Sydney, Australia), suggest that ‘training’ the immune response against a bulkier tumor before surgery allows the patient to mount a more effective immune response post-surgery, when the tumor is smaller. The current approved treatment schedule is to first surgically remove the melanoma and then give targeted therapy or immunotherapy as an adjuvant therapy (post-operatively). This...