A clinical trial conducted by researchers at Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic and Minneapolis-based University of Minnesota found drug combinations eliminated or shrunk tumors in 70% of clinical trial participants with stage 3 melanoma.
The findings were published Feb. 24 in Nature Communications. In the trial's second phase, 30 patients were divided into two cohorts and received different drug combinations before undergoing therapeutic lymph node dissection surgery.
One cohort was treated with a combination of vemurafenib, cobimetinib and atezolizumab. The other was treated with the cobimetinib and atezolizumab combination only. Both cohorts received atezolizumab after surgery.
Treatment resulted in complete or almost complete elimination of tumors for 50% of trial participants across both cohorts. Additionally, tumors were significantly shrunk for 20% of participants in both cohorts.
Researchers identified the small sample size and academic setting as possible limitations to generalizing the trial's findings.