Extended, escalated dose chemotherapy shows no survival benefit in advanced disease

Prof. Poulam Patel from Nottingham University, UK, reported the final results from a large randomised phase III study in 859 patients with stage IV melanoma. The clinical trial, coordinated by the EORTC Melanoma Study Group, involving 92 institutions in Europe, the US and Latin America, was the largest of its kind in this group of patients.

In the trial, chemotherapy-naive patients with stage IV disease were treated with either dacarbazine 1000 mg/m2 IV every 21 days (the current standard treatment) or temozolomide 150 mg/m2 orally on days 1–7 repeated every 14 days. “Temozolomide is an oral chemotherapy which has activity against melanoma and this regimen is a dose-intense way of delivering the treatment in the hope of delivering more active drug and more effectively,”

Prof. Patel said. “The study showed that although there were small differences in the response rate and side effects, there was no difference in the overall survival or progression-free survival for this extended schedule temozolomide regimen over dacarbazine.”

“We continue to look for new treatments that will show benefit when tested in a large phase III study,” he said.

Watch Professor Patel discuss his research.