FDA approves Yervoy for late-stage melanoma

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the approved uses of Yervoy (ipilimumab) to treat patients with Stage III melanoma.

Yervoy decreases the risk of melanoma, the most aggressive type of skin cancer, recurring in post-surgery patients. By the time the disease has reached Stage III, it has reached one or more lymph nodes.

“Today’s approval of Yervoy extends its use to patients who are at high risk of developing recurrence of melanoma after surgery,” Richard Pazdur, director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said. “This new use of the drug in earlier stages of the disease builds on our understanding of the immune system’s interaction with cancer.”

First approved in 2011, Yervoy is administered intravenously to treat late-stage melanoma.