FDA clears first melanoma drug to extend life

The federal health agency approved the injectable drug, called Yervoy, for late-stage or metastatic melanoma. Melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer, but the FDA has only approved two other drugs for advanced melanoma. The newest of those drugs was cleared more than 13 years ago. Neither drug has been shown to significantly extend patient lives.

Known chemically as ipilimumab, the biotech drug only worked in a small segment of patients studied, and on average they lived just four months longer than patients given older medications. But experts say the drug is an important milestone in treating melanoma, which is often unresponsive to therapy.

"Clearly this is not a home run, but it's a solid base hit," said Tim Turnham, director of the Melanoma Research Foundation. "And because we see other things in the pipeline, we think this the first in a series of important new therapies for melanoma."

Ipilimumab is part of a group of targeted cancer medicines that harness the body's immune system to fight off cancer, rather than attacking the disease with outside chemicals like chemotherapy. The drug works by blocking a molecule linked to melanoma called CTLA-4, which interferes with the protective activity of white blood cells. When the molecule is blocked, the cells behave normally and help fight off cancer.