› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Interferon and ASCO 2016 – for TIm
- This topic has 9 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 10 months ago by
Gene_S.
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- June 10, 2016 at 12:25 am
Dear Tim,
I appreciate your efforts at ASCO. I do wish you would clarify your reporting in regard to interferon. I cannot, after searching assiduously, find any abstracts, posters or sessions at ASCO 2016 in which data for interferon as an adjuvant in Stage lll melanoma, as the sole agent or as an arm of a trial, is reported. As such, I have posted the only data available (from 2012) in which a "marginally significant" 3% effect is found on overall survival in a large cohort, The study also notes that 37% of patients had to stop due to toxicity.
What specific data are you quoting? I think it is important because failure to put interferon in its marginal place (Dr. Kirkwood not withstanding) may cost lives and lead to unneeded suffering with minimal to nonexistant benefit. Thanks
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- June 15, 2016 at 2:53 pm
Brent:
My apologies for the delayed response. I was travelling after ASCO for family reasons and that consumed more time than I expected.
The session that addressed interferon was Sunday morning, and I referenced information from a talk by Dr. Van Akkooi from the Netherlands. I don't have access to the slides but here is an excerpt from his talk:
A recent meta-analysis reported on 17 trials published between 1995 and 2011.76 Adjuvant IFN was associated with a significantly improved disease-free survival (HR 0.83; 95% CI, 0.78–87; p = .00001) and OS (HR 0.91; 95% CI, 0.85–97; p = .003). This translated into an improvement in OS from 46.1% to 49.1% at 5 years and from 37.1% to 39.9% at 10 years. There was no clear evidence that a particular dose or duration of treatment or patient subgroup benefitted differently. However, ulceration status affected IFN benefit on event-free survival and OS. For ulcerated melanoma, IFN increased event-free survival from 26.9% to 32.9% at 5 years and from 20.4% to 27.3% at 10 years
The full article can be found here:
http://meetinglibrary.asco.org/content/159087-176
Basically he cites a meta-analysis that shows 3% benefit in overall survival, but 7% benefits in the sub-population of patients with ulcerated melanoma. I was surprised that these numbers were so high. Given the side effects of interferon, engaging in interferon treatment is still very much a personal decision, in my view.
Hope this helps.
Tim–MRF
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- June 16, 2016 at 2:39 pm
Thank you Tim. I think there were no surprises in the interferon data, It is statistically but not clinically signicant. There are a number of trials combining interferon with other newer agents. I wonder if there is animal data supporting those combinations. Do you know of any?
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- June 16, 2016 at 2:39 pm
Thank you Tim. I think there were no surprises in the interferon data, It is statistically but not clinically signicant. There are a number of trials combining interferon with other newer agents. I wonder if there is animal data supporting those combinations. Do you know of any?
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- June 16, 2016 at 2:39 pm
Thank you Tim. I think there were no surprises in the interferon data, It is statistically but not clinically signicant. There are a number of trials combining interferon with other newer agents. I wonder if there is animal data supporting those combinations. Do you know of any?
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- June 15, 2016 at 2:53 pm
Brent:
My apologies for the delayed response. I was travelling after ASCO for family reasons and that consumed more time than I expected.
The session that addressed interferon was Sunday morning, and I referenced information from a talk by Dr. Van Akkooi from the Netherlands. I don't have access to the slides but here is an excerpt from his talk:
A recent meta-analysis reported on 17 trials published between 1995 and 2011.76 Adjuvant IFN was associated with a significantly improved disease-free survival (HR 0.83; 95% CI, 0.78–87; p = .00001) and OS (HR 0.91; 95% CI, 0.85–97; p = .003). This translated into an improvement in OS from 46.1% to 49.1% at 5 years and from 37.1% to 39.9% at 10 years. There was no clear evidence that a particular dose or duration of treatment or patient subgroup benefitted differently. However, ulceration status affected IFN benefit on event-free survival and OS. For ulcerated melanoma, IFN increased event-free survival from 26.9% to 32.9% at 5 years and from 20.4% to 27.3% at 10 years
The full article can be found here:
http://meetinglibrary.asco.org/content/159087-176
Basically he cites a meta-analysis that shows 3% benefit in overall survival, but 7% benefits in the sub-population of patients with ulcerated melanoma. I was surprised that these numbers were so high. Given the side effects of interferon, engaging in interferon treatment is still very much a personal decision, in my view.
Hope this helps.
Tim–MRF
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- June 15, 2016 at 2:53 pm
Brent:
My apologies for the delayed response. I was travelling after ASCO for family reasons and that consumed more time than I expected.
The session that addressed interferon was Sunday morning, and I referenced information from a talk by Dr. Van Akkooi from the Netherlands. I don't have access to the slides but here is an excerpt from his talk:
A recent meta-analysis reported on 17 trials published between 1995 and 2011.76 Adjuvant IFN was associated with a significantly improved disease-free survival (HR 0.83; 95% CI, 0.78–87; p = .00001) and OS (HR 0.91; 95% CI, 0.85–97; p = .003). This translated into an improvement in OS from 46.1% to 49.1% at 5 years and from 37.1% to 39.9% at 10 years. There was no clear evidence that a particular dose or duration of treatment or patient subgroup benefitted differently. However, ulceration status affected IFN benefit on event-free survival and OS. For ulcerated melanoma, IFN increased event-free survival from 26.9% to 32.9% at 5 years and from 20.4% to 27.3% at 10 years
The full article can be found here:
http://meetinglibrary.asco.org/content/159087-176
Basically he cites a meta-analysis that shows 3% benefit in overall survival, but 7% benefits in the sub-population of patients with ulcerated melanoma. I was surprised that these numbers were so high. Given the side effects of interferon, engaging in interferon treatment is still very much a personal decision, in my view.
Hope this helps.
Tim–MRF
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