Summer 2026 brought new treatment options for patients with pancreatic cancer and melanoma, and experts with University of Iowa Health Care Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center contributed to bringing each of these new options to Iowans.
When the results of a phase 3 clinical trial for daraxonrasib were announced at the ASCO (American Society for Clinical Oncology) annual meeting in late May, they were greeted with a standing ovation. The drug, which has been fully approved by the FDA, is being hailed as a groundbreaking advance that could dramatically change the outlook for patients with pancreatic cancer.
TUDRIQEV for melanoma
In August, the FDA granted accelerated approval for TUDRIQEV, a viral therapy developed by the drugmaker Replimune and previously called RP1, in combination with nivolumab for advanced melanoma. This oncolytic virus breaks up tumors and makes them visible and vulnerable to the patient's own immune system.
Also in August, drug companies Moderna and Merck announced positive topline results from a phase 3 clinical trial of a personalized cancer vaccine against advanced melanoma. The trial combined individualized mRNA vaccines with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab to determine if the combination is safe and did a better job than pembrolizumab alone. Topline results from the clinical trial suggest that the personalized vaccine combined with pembrolizumab helps prevent melanoma from returning.
UI Health Care was one of the first sites in the country to participate in the clinical trial, beginning in 2024. A key feature of these vaccines is that they are tailored to target each patient’s unique tumor. Genetic information from the tumor is used to create a personalized vaccine that teaches a patient’s own immune system to target tumor cells wherever they are in the patient's body. This therapy has not yet received FDA approval; researchers will continue to follow participants’ outcomes over time, analyze the final data from the clinical trial, and present those results to the FDA.
