International Journal of Cancer: 20-Year Follow-Up of the Mel39 Multipeptide Melanoma Vaccine Trial Reports 49% Overall Survival Across Both Arms
A post-hoc analysis in the International Journal of Cancer followed 51 patients from the Mel39 randomized Phase 2 trial, in which people with resected stage IIB-IV melanoma received a vaccine of 4 or 12 melanoma peptides. At a median follow-up of 16.1 years (21.2 years for living participants), overall survival across both arms was 65% at 10 years and 49% at 20 years. Survival favored the 12-peptide vaccine (hazard ratio 0.64, 95% CI 0.29-1.40), but the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.26), and the authors concluded that adding more peptides did not significantly improve clinical efficacy; women had significantly better recurrence-free survival than men after either vaccine.