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New Virus Therapy Obliterates Melanoma Cells
10 Aug
Summary
- Engineered herpes virus targets and kills melanoma cells.
- Therapy approved for advanced melanoma unresponsive to other treatments.
- 24% of trial patients saw tumors shrink with new treatment.
Federal regulators recently granted accelerated approval to Tudriqev, a novel therapy aimed at combating advanced melanoma.
This groundbreaking treatment involves an engineered herpes simplex virus designed to target and replicate within melanoma cells, leading to their destruction from the inside. This process also aims to activate the patient's immune system to further combat any remaining cancer cells.
Tudriqev is intended for adult patients whose melanoma cannot be fully removed surgically or has ceased responding to standard immunotherapy drugs. It is administered as an injection directly into the tumor every two weeks, in combination with a standard immunotherapy infusion.
In a clinical study involving 91 patients, 24% experienced tumor shrinkage. The median response time was 14.1 months, with some patients responding for over a year. The drug developer, Replimune Inc., must conduct further research trials to confirm clinical benefits.
Potential side effects include fatigue, fever, infections, and localized injection site reactions. There are also safety warnings regarding the risk of spreading or reactivating herpes infections. The therapy's list price is $450,000 per treatment course before discounts.
