13 treatment settings, 8 with more than one named option. Each section lays out the options the standard of care names, what each is for, the trials behind them with their recorded results, the side effects and cautions on record, and questions to ask. Built from the cancer page's standard-of-care rows; nothing here is advice for your case.
Adjuvant pembrolizumab/nivolumab; neoadjuvant IO for resectable stage III.
Pembrolizumab is a PD-1 blocking antibody approved in more than 40 settings, from melanoma and lung cancer to the first tumour-agnostic approval for mismatch-repair-deficient tumours in 2017, and before and after surgery in triple-negative breast cancer. A subcutaneous form arrived in 2025, and it is the backbone partner for ADCs and personalised neoantigen vaccines.
Nivolumab was the second PD-1 blocker and is often combined with ipilimumab. Long-term data show about half of advanced melanoma patients alive at 10 years on the combination.
Removing just the first lymph node a tumour drains to, instead of all of them, to check for spread.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Hypothyroidism (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 8% | - |
| Pneumonitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 3.4% | - |
| Colitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 1.7% | - |
| Hepatitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 0.7% | - |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Colitis with ipilimumab (1+3 mg/kg) · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 25% | 14.4% |
| Hepatitis with ipilimumab · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 15% | 13.4% |
| Colitis · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 2.9% | 1.7% |
| Hepatitis · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 1.8% | 1.5% |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Nivolumab-ipilimumab or nivolumab-relatlimab; BRAF/MEK if rapid control needed.
Opdualag combines relatlimab, the first drug targeting the LAG-3 immune brake, with nivolumab for melanoma.
Encorafenib is a BRAF inhibitor that, with cetuximab and chemotherapy, became first-line standard for BRAF-mutant colorectal cancer in 2026.
Averages across everyone diagnosed, often years ago. Your stage, subtype, age, fitness and the treatment you receive matter more than the average, and the numbers are improving quickly.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Lifileucel, RP1 + nivolumab, ipilimumab-based, trials; tebentafusp (uveal).
Lifileucel was the first approved TIL therapy: the patient's own tumour-fighting immune cells are expanded to billions and given back.
Vusolimogene oderparepvec is an engineered herpes virus injected into melanoma tumours, approved in August 2026 with nivolumab after immunotherapy failure.
The first drug to improve survival in metastatic uveal melanoma, and the first TCR-based bispecific.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
No side-effect rates or interaction flags are recorded for these options yet. The side-effect lookup and interaction checker cover the products that have them.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Dermoscopy, total-body photography for high-risk patients, excisional biopsy with Breslow thickness and ulceration reported; AI decision support emerging.
Magnified skin imaging and whole-body photo mapping, increasingly read by algorithms, to find melanoma early and avoid unnecessary biopsies.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Wide local excision with margins by thickness (1-2 cm); sentinel lymph node biopsy from ~0.8 mm Breslow or with ulceration; nodal ultrasound surveillance rather than completion dissection if positive (MSLT-II).
Removing just the first lymph node a tumour drains to, instead of all of them, to check for spread.
Ultrasound uses sound waves to make live pictures; it is cheap, safe, and used to guide needles into lumps.
Averages across everyone diagnosed, often years ago. Your stage, subtype, age, fitness and the treatment you receive matter more than the average, and the numbers are improving quickly.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Adjuvant pembrolizumab or nivolumab for one year (KEYNOTE-716, CheckMate 76K); discuss modest absolute benefit and irAE risk; ctDNA-guided trials.
Pembrolizumab is a PD-1 blocking antibody approved in more than 40 settings, from melanoma and lung cancer to the first tumour-agnostic approval for mismatch-repair-deficient tumours in 2017, and before and after surgery in triple-negative breast cancer. A subcutaneous form arrived in 2025, and it is the backbone partner for ADCs and personalised neoantigen vaccines.
Nivolumab was the second PD-1 blocker and is often combined with ipilimumab. Long-term data show about half of advanced melanoma patients alive at 10 years on the combination.
RFS and DMFS improved; 5-year benefit sustained (ESMO 2025).
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Hypothyroidism (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 8% | - |
| Pneumonitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 3.4% | - |
| Colitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 1.7% | - |
| Hepatitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 0.7% | - |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Colitis with ipilimumab (1+3 mg/kg) · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 25% | 14.4% |
| Hepatitis with ipilimumab · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 15% | 13.4% |
| Colitis · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 2.9% | 1.7% |
| Hepatitis · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 1.8% | 1.5% |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Neoadjuvant ipilimumab + nivolumab (two cycles) then surgery with response-adapted adjuvant therapy (NADINA), or neoadjuvant pembrolizumab (SWOG S1801); alternative adjuvant-only PD-1 or, if BRAF-mutant, dabrafenib-trametinib.
This setting names no product or technology record yet; the approach above is the standard as written. Ask your team which specific treatments they mean.
12-month EFS 83.7% vs 57.2%; HR 0.32.
Averages across everyone diagnosed, often years ago. Your stage, subtype, age, fitness and the treatment you receive matter more than the average, and the numbers are improving quickly.
Averages across everyone diagnosed, often years ago. Your stage, subtype, age, fitness and the treatment you receive matter more than the average, and the numbers are improving quickly.
No side-effect rates or interaction flags are recorded for these options yet. The side-effect lookup and interaction checker cover the products that have them.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Nivolumab or pembrolizumab for one year; dabrafenib-trametinib for BRAF V600 (COMBI-AD, 10-year RFS 48%); relatlimab adds nothing (RELATIVITY-098).
Dabrafenib plus trametinib is the BRAF-plus-MEK pill combination, approved for BRAF V600E lung cancer and, since 2022, for any solid tumour with that mutation.
Averages across everyone diagnosed, often years ago. Your stage, subtype, age, fitness and the treatment you receive matter more than the average, and the numbers are improving quickly.
RFS not improved.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Nivolumab + ipilimumab (highest long-term survival; ~59% grade 3-4 events) or nivolumab + relatlimab (Opdualag; ~21%) or anti-PD-1 alone; for BRAF-mutant disease, immunotherapy first (DREAMseq) unless rapid control is needed.
This setting names no product or technology record yet; the approach above is the standard as written. Ask your team which specific treatments they mean.
Averages across everyone diagnosed, often years ago. Your stage, subtype, age, fitness and the treatment you receive matter more than the average, and the numbers are improving quickly.
Averages across everyone diagnosed, often years ago. Your stage, subtype, age, fitness and the treatment you receive matter more than the average, and the numbers are improving quickly.
Averages across everyone diagnosed, often years ago. Your stage, subtype, age, fitness and the treatment you receive matter more than the average, and the numbers are improving quickly.
Averages across everyone diagnosed, often years ago. Your stage, subtype, age, fitness and the treatment you receive matter more than the average, and the numbers are improving quickly.
No side-effect rates or interaction flags are recorded for these options yet. The side-effect lookup and interaction checker cover the products that have them.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
BRAF + MEK doublet: encorafenib-binimetinib, dabrafenib-trametinib, or vemurafenib-cobimetinib; triplet with atezolizumab is approved but little used.
Encorafenib is a BRAF inhibitor that, with cetuximab and chemotherapy, became first-line standard for BRAF-mutant colorectal cancer in 2026.
Binimetinib is the MEK inhibitor partnered with encorafenib; blocking the next step in the same relay stops the tumour rerouting around the BRAF block.
Vemurafenib was the first BRAF inhibitor (2011); it shrank melanomas in weeks and proved that a single mutation could be drugged in a solid tumour.
Cobimetinib is the MEK partner for vemurafenib, and the first drug approved for histiocytic neoplasms.
Averages across everyone diagnosed, often years ago. Your stage, subtype, age, fitness and the treatment you receive matter more than the average, and the numbers are improving quickly.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Arthralgia | 53% | - |
| Photosensitivity | 33% | - |
| Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma / keratoacanthoma · BRIM-3 vemurafenib arm | 24% | - |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Lifileucel TIL therapy (accelerated approval 2024), RP1 oncolytic virus + nivolumab (2026), ipilimumab-based rechallenge, brenetafusp trials; clinical trials strongly encouraged.
Lifileucel was the first approved TIL therapy: the patient's own tumour-fighting immune cells are expanded to billions and given back.
Vusolimogene oderparepvec is an engineered herpes virus injected into melanoma tumours, approved in August 2026 with nivolumab after immunotherapy failure.
Brenetafusp is a soluble T-cell receptor bispecific, tebentafusp's successor, that recognises a PRAME peptide on HLA-A*02:01 and drags T cells onto the tumour. A phase 3 with nivolumab in first-line melanoma is enrolling, but only patients carrying HLA-A*02:01, about half of those of European ancestry, are eligible.
Averages across everyone diagnosed, often years ago. Your stage, subtype, age, fitness and the treatment you receive matter more than the average, and the numbers are improving quickly.
No headline result recorded yet.
No side-effect rates or interaction flags are recorded for these options yet. The side-effect lookup and interaction checker cover the products that have them.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Tebentafusp (OS benefit, IMCgp100-202); liver-directed therapy for hepatic-dominant disease; ipilimumab-nivolumab has modest activity.
The first drug to improve survival in metastatic uveal melanoma, and the first TCR-based bispecific.
OS 21.7 vs 16.0 months; HR 0.51.
No side-effect rates or interaction flags are recorded for these options yet. The side-effect lookup and interaction checker cover the products that have them.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Nivolumab + ipilimumab for asymptomatic disease (~50% intracranial response, CheckMate 204); stereotactic radiosurgery; BRAF/MEK for symptomatic BRAF-mutant disease.
Nivolumab was the second PD-1 blocker and is often combined with ipilimumab. Long-term data show about half of advanced melanoma patients alive at 10 years on the combination.
Ipilimumab was the first checkpoint inhibitor (2011), and proved the immune system could be unleashed against cancer.
Stereotactic body radiotherapy converges multiple beams with sub-millimetre accuracy to deliver tumour-destroying doses in one to five outpatient sessions, doing the job of surgery for inoperable early lung cancer and for metastases in liver, spine and brain. Tumour size and location limit its use, and late toxicity is a concern near the central airways.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Colitis with ipilimumab (1+3 mg/kg) · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 25% | 14.4% |
| Hepatitis with ipilimumab · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 15% | 13.4% |
| Colitis · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 2.9% | 1.7% |
| Hepatitis · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 1.8% | 1.5% |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Colitis (with nivolumab 1+3) · Nivolumab 1 mg/kg + ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, melanoma | 25% | 14.4% |
| Hepatitis (with nivolumab) · Nivolumab 1 mg/kg + ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, melanoma | 15% | 13.4% |
| Rash (with nivolumab) · Nivolumab 1 mg/kg + ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, melanoma | 28% | 4.8% |
| Adrenal insufficiency (with nivolumab) · Nivolumab 1 mg/kg + ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, melanoma | 8% | 2.6% |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.