Paris (AFP)
A new treatment against the most common form of eye cancer in adults shows encouraging results, announced Thursday the Institut Curie, which supports around two-thirds of new cases of this cancer in France.
With 500 to 600 new cases per year in France, uveal melanoma (or uveal melanoma) spreads in the form of metastases (most often in the liver) in one in three patients.
Until now, there was no really effective therapy to treat these metastases, recalls Institut Curie in a press release.
However, for the first time, a clinical study demonstrates the effectiveness of a brand new immunotherapy molecule, tebentafusp, on the overall survival of patients with this cancer.
The results of this phase 3 study - the last stage of clinical trials - coordinated in France by Dr Sophie Piperno-Neumann, medical oncologist at the Institut Curie, are the subject of a publication Thursday in New England. Journal of Medicine.
Carried out on 378 patients, it shows that the survival at 1 year is 73% for the patients who received tebentafusp, against 59% for the other patients.
In addition, 31% of patients who received tebentafusp did not relapse at 6 months, compared to 19% of patients who received other treatments.
Tebentafusp, which stimulates a targeted immune response, can be used in about 45% of patients (who have the serotype necessary to trigger this anti-melanoma immunity).
"These results are very exciting," responded Dr Sophie Piperno-Neumann, quoted in the press release.
Currently available in ATU (Temporary Authorization for Use) at the Institut Curie and in the centers which participated in the study, it should be more widely available in the coming months for patients with metastatic uveal melanoma.
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