INTRODUCTION

In the morbidity patterns of skin tumors, melanoma accounts for a relatively smaller percentage but is associated with a very high risk of an adverse outcome. The mortality rate of patients during the year since the diagnosis of melanoma in the Russian Federation in 2019 was 9.5%. The development and implementation of effective methods for melanoma treatment continue.

OBJECTIVE

To review advanced clinical developments for the drug therapy of metastatic melanoma, presented at the annual ASCO congress in June 2022.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We searched the PubMed/Medline, MEDtalks.nl and Google databases with keywords «melanoma», «metastatic», «clinical trials», «ASCO», «2022», etc. Data sources in Dutch and English were selected.

RESULTS

The world is actively discussing the results of the annual ASCO Congress in June 2022, including the results of the most advanced research in the field of metastatic melanoma therapy: 1) RELATIVITY-047; 2) Tricotel phase 2 study; 3) interim results of a randomized, controlled phase 2 study of efficacy and safety of the combination of toripalimab (anti-PD-1 antibodies) and axitinib versus toripalimab or axitinib monotherapy in treatment-naïve patients with unresectable or metastatic mucosal melanoma; 4) phase 2 trials of efficacy and safety of camrelizumab (anti-PD-1 IgG4 antibodies) in combination with apatinib (VEGFR-2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor) and temozolomide in the first-line therapy in patients with advanced acral melanoma.

DISCUSSION

The results of the reviewed clinical developments demonstrate promising effects and an acceptable drug safety profile of combination therapy for metastatic melanoma. New targeted agents with different molecular targets can dramatically improve the rates of relapse-free and overall survival of patients and reduce the severity of the effect of melanoma escaping from the drug response.