Turn on cookies to sign in
Signing in saves your progress to your Curie account. We can only do that with cookies on — turn them on to continue.
A powerful immunotherapy combo is turning heads in melanoma treatment. A Phase II trial found that nearly 1 in 3 patients with advanced melanoma achieved complete tumor disappearance when treated with lifileucel TIL therapy plus pembrolizumab as a first-line combo. Nearly two-thirds saw significant tumor shrinkage — and many responses lasted well beyond two years.
A promising immunotherapy combination is generating excitement in advanced melanoma care. Results from the IOV-COM-202 Phase II trial, presented at the 2026 ESMO Congress, show that combining lifileucel — a tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy — with the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab as a first-line treatment produced remarkable outcomes in patients with advanced melanoma.
TIL therapy works by extracting immune cells from a patient's own tumor, multiplying them in a lab, and reinfusing them to more aggressively attack cancer. Pembrolizumab, already a standard first-line option, removes the "brakes" on the immune system. Together, they appear to be a formidable team — with responses that are both deep and durable.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: While pembrolizumab alone helps about half of advanced melanoma patients long-term, the other half urgently need better options. This combination could shift the treatment paradigm by delivering deeper, more durable responses earlier in the disease course. A larger Phase III trial (TILVANCE-301) is now underway to confirm these findings.
