Modified herpes virus 'could combat skin cancer'

Conclusion This randomised controlled trial has demonstrated the effectiveness of a novel injectable immune treatment for advanced melanoma that cannot be surgically removed. The trial has various strengths, including its large sample size, analysis by intention to treat, and blinding of assessors to treatment assignment, which should have reduced the risk of bias. It demonstrated that, overall, significantly more people responded to treatment with T-VEC than GM-CSF injections. It also improved survival by an average of 4.4 months, but this only just reached statistical significance, meaning we can have less confidence in this effect. There are several points to bear in mind, however: T-VEC boosts GM-CSF production within the tumour to enhance the immune response, and was therefore compared with GM-CSF injections. However, GM-CSF is not used as a treatment for advanced melanoma. Ideally, the treatment would need to be compared with treatments for advanced melanoma that are currently available – for example, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and particularly other immune therapies, such as the antibody treatment ipilimumab. The treatment has not been shown to "cure" melanoma. Most of the people in this study passed away during the two years of follow-up, but the people receiving T-VEC generally lived slightly longer. The treatment is a genetically engineered derivative of herpes simplex type 1 virus. But this is not the same as having been infected with ...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Medication Medical practice Source Type: news