Are there Stats on the most durable treatments for Stage 4?

Unfortunately know one can predict who will respond to what therapy. The old drug IL-2 had about a 4-5% rate of people being long-term responders. I know people who are 10+ years out and are still NED, after having multiple metastases in multiple organs.

The new immunotherapy drugs are showing similar signs, and perhaps with higher numbers. Yervoy (ipilimumab or "ipi") was the first drug in this category and I know people who are 10+ years out on that drug as well.  The anti-PD1 drugs are too new to have those kinds of long-term survival numbers but many people anticipate that the numbers will be even larger, and combining them with ipi might be better still. It is too soon to tell, though.

Targeted therapy tends to stop working after a year or so, but even here we are seeing some long-term survivors. Some people have even stopped taking drug and are still OK. 

Future research is focusing on three areas: finding new therapies that will do even better, finding drugs that work on the the more rare sub-types of melanoma, and (to your point) finding out who will respond to which drug and why.

The good news is that we now have several drugs in the mix, any of which might be that magic bullet for any given patient.

Tim–MRF

Unfortunately know one can predict who will respond to what therapy. The old drug IL-2 had about a 4-5% rate of people being long-term responders. I know people who are 10+ years out and are still NED, after having multiple metastases in multiple organs.

The new immunotherapy drugs are showing similar signs, and perhaps with higher numbers. Yervoy (ipilimumab or "ipi") was the first drug in this category and I know people who are 10+ years out on that drug as well.  The anti-PD1 drugs are too new to have those kinds of long-term survival numbers but many people anticipate that the numbers will be even larger, and combining them with ipi might be better still. It is too soon to tell, though.

Targeted therapy tends to stop working after a year or so, but even here we are seeing some long-term survivors. Some people have even stopped taking drug and are still OK. 

Future research is focusing on three areas: finding new therapies that will do even better, finding drugs that work on the the more rare sub-types of melanoma, and (to your point) finding out who will respond to which drug and why.

The good news is that we now have several drugs in the mix, any of which might be that magic bullet for any given patient.

Tim–MRF

Unfortunately know one can predict who will respond to what therapy. The old drug IL-2 had about a 4-5% rate of people being long-term responders. I know people who are 10+ years out and are still NED, after having multiple metastases in multiple organs.

The new immunotherapy drugs are showing similar signs, and perhaps with higher numbers. Yervoy (ipilimumab or "ipi") was the first drug in this category and I know people who are 10+ years out on that drug as well.  The anti-PD1 drugs are too new to have those kinds of long-term survival numbers but many people anticipate that the numbers will be even larger, and combining them with ipi might be better still. It is too soon to tell, though.

Targeted therapy tends to stop working after a year or so, but even here we are seeing some long-term survivors. Some people have even stopped taking drug and are still OK. 

Future research is focusing on three areas: finding new therapies that will do even better, finding drugs that work on the the more rare sub-types of melanoma, and (to your point) finding out who will respond to which drug and why.

The good news is that we now have several drugs in the mix, any of which might be that magic bullet for any given patient.

Tim–MRF