First Drug To Help Melanoma Of The Eye

AstraZeneca's experimental drug, selumetinib, is the first targeted medication to show a significant clinical benefit for patients with melanoma of the eye (metastatic uveal melanoma), researchers from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center explained at the 49th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), in Chicago, Illinois.

The scientists say that their findings will probably change clinical practice for patients with metastatic uveal melanoma, which to date has been an "untreatable disease". Uveal melanoma is a rare disease, there are 2,500 diagnoses annually in the USA, half of whom develop metastatic disease. For decades, survival of patients with metastasis has remained obstinately at 9 to 12 months.