WEDNESDAY, Aug. 14, 2024 -- For patients with advanced melanoma treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in clinical practice, survival plateaus after three years and then decreases, according to a study published online Aug. 14 in JAMA Network Open.

Olivier J. van Not, M.D., from the Dutch Institute for Clinical Auditing in Leiden, Netherlands, and colleagues examined long-term survival in patients with advanced melanomas treated with ICIs outside of clinical trials in a cohort study using prospectively collected data. A total of 2,490 patients treated with first-line ipilimumab-nivolumab, antibodies that target programmed cell death, or ipilimumab were included.

The researchers found that progression-free survival was 23.4 and 19.7 percent for all patients after three years and after five years, respectively. For all patients, overall survival was 44.0 and 35.9 percent after three years and after five years, respectively. A significantly higher risk for progression after reaching partial or complete response was seen for patients with metastases in three or more organ sites (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.37).

"The findings of our study are important for daily clinical practice and can be used to inform physicians and patients of the long-term treatment outcomes following ICI treatment in clinical practice settings," the authors write. "Moreover, these data can be used to develop follow-up plans for long-term survivors of advanced melanoma."

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.