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NZ melanoma treatment 'old and ineffective': expert

Author
George Freeman,
Publish Date
Mon, 9 Nov 2015, 5:26AM

NZ melanoma treatment 'old and ineffective': expert

Author
George Freeman,
Publish Date
Mon, 9 Nov 2015, 5:26AM

An international melanoma expert is surprised the only treatment for advanced melanoma covered by Pharmac is years old and ineffective.

Professor of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles Antoni Ribas is calling for new melanoma treatments to be fast tracked.

He said the only treatment covered by the government is a drug that's years old, and has not shown to improve survival rates for anyone.

"In the last five years there's been five other agents for treatment of advanced melanoma that have been demonstrated scientifically to be better treatments and improve patients life and survival," Ribas said. 

"It's hard to understand that a country like New Zealand, which has the highest rate of metastatic melanoma anywhere in the world, that patients are not offered the new treatments that have shown to be superior to this drug."

Ribas said one drug in particular, Keytruda, has long term benefits in a third of patients with advanced melanoma.

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