News
Early Studies Suggest New Immune Checkpoint Target for Melanoma
By Cody Barnett, MPH, MRA Senior Director of Communications & Patient Engagement | 6 January 2022 In Science
Checkpoint immunotherapies have revolutionized the way melanoma is treated. However, up to 50% of patients don’t respond or go on to develop resistance to even our latest approved therapies. Thankfully, researchers such as MRA-funded investigator Roberto Tinoco, PhD are hard at work discovering the next checkpoint inhibitors capable of revving up the immune system and fighting melanoma.
Championing Clinical Trials
By Cody Barnett, MPH, MRA Senior Director of Communications & Patient Engagement | 2 January 2022 In Melanoma Stories, Science, Treatment
Too often, the first time someone is exposed to clinical trials is when they've been diagnosed with a serious, life threatening illness. Learn how Mary Elizabeth partnered with her doctor Jedd Wolchok to take back control from melanoma.
Advancing Rare Melanoma Research
27 December 2021 In Science
Despite the tremendous progress made in the last decade in treating melanoma, approximately one third of patients don’t benefit from currently approved therapies. This includes the majority of people with rare forms of melanoma. But as investigators continue to chip away at understanding what causes these melanomas and how they differ from UV-driven cutaneous melanomas, the hope is the better understanding they reap will be sown into improved treatments for these patients.
MRA Applauds Expanded Approval of Pembrolizumab to Patients with Stage 2 Melanoma
By Cody Barnett, MPH, MRA Senior Director of Communications & Patient Engagement | 6 December 2021 In News, Science, Treatment
The Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA), the largest non-profit funder of melanoma research worldwide, welcomes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decision to expand eligibility of Merck’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) to include patients with Stage IIB and IIC melanoma.
One Family, One Community, One Goal: Cure Melanoma
By Renee Orcione, MRA Digital Engagement & Communications Manager | 27 October 2021 In Allies & Partnerships, Melanoma Stories
Melanoma is personal for Kathy Mason, and positivity is a way of life since her son Ryan’s Stage 3 melanoma diagnosis at only 24-years old.
Promising Uveal Melanoma Research Advances
By Cody Barnett, MPH, MRA Senior Director of Communications & Patient Engagement | 26 October 2021 In News, Science, Treatment
Uveal melanoma, often called ocular melanoma or just eye melanoma, is a rare melanoma subtype that affects about 2,500 people each year in the United States. As is true with other rare subtypes, we know far less about what causes uveal melanoma, how it progresses, and how it can be...
Paving a Path for Cancer Vaccines
22 October 2021 In News, Science
Although vaccines to prevent COVID-19 have dominated conversations and the news cycle since the start of the pandemic — Dr. Nina Bhardwaj and her team have been busy at work with a different type of vaccine altogether: one to support melanoma treatment and reduce risk of recurrence.
Challenge Accepted: MRA 2020 - 2021 Annual Report
19 October 2021 In Allies & Partnerships, Melanoma Stories, News, Policy, Prevention, Science, Treatment
This was a year like no other. COVID-19 presented new challenges that required new ways of thinking. At MRA, confronting challenges is part of our DNA. We never stop challenging ourselves, no matter the odds or obstacles, in pursuit of conquering melanoma and saving lives.
Melanoma Isn't Just Another Skin Cancer
By Cody Barnett, MPH, MRA Senior Director of Communications & Patient Engagement | 5 October 2021 In Allies & Partnerships, Melanoma Stories
Too many people think that melanoma is just another skin cancer – and in 2005, Daisy Helman was one of them. She had just learned that a lump her father noticed on his arm was actually melanoma. “I just assumed that this wasn’t a big deal. Just cut it out – dad will be fine. Looking back, I was so wrong.”
Antibiotics & Treatment-Resistant Melanoma: A Stressful Subject
By Cody Barnett, MPH, MRA Senior Director of Communications & Patient Engagement | 23 September 2021 In Science
Eleonora Leucci, PhD, an MRA-funded investigator at KU Leuven (Belgium) has determined that some antibiotics may be able to slow, or even reverse, treatment resistance that melanoma develops to targeted therapies. If her preliminary findings are verified in the clinic, this would be a potent weapon in the melanoma treatment arsenal and a huge win for patients.