FDA authorizes novel therapy for metastatic melanoma

On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration granted approval for a new cancer treatment that has the potential to revolutionize the approach to treating a majority of aggressive and advanced tumors in the future.

The approved therapy, named Amtagvi and developed by Iovance Biotherapeutics, is designated for patients with metastatic melanoma who have exhausted other treatment options. Known as TIL therapy, it entails augmenting the population of immune cells within tumors to utilize their capabilities in combating cancer.

This marks the inaugural approval of a cellular therapy for the treatment of solid tumors. Although the approval on Friday specifically pertains to melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer, experts believe it harbors potential for addressing other solid tumors, which constitute 90% of all cancer cases.

“It is our hope that future iterations of TIL therapy will be important for lung cancer, colon cancer, head and neck cancer, bladder cancer and many other cancer types,” said Dr. Patrick Hwu, chief executive of the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. Moffitt has been involved with Iovance’s clinical trials of TIL therapy.