Efficacy of Bevacizumab Monotherapy in Treatment of Metastatic Melanoma

In Norway, cutaneous malignant melanoma is the second most frequent and the most frequent cancer type in middle-aged (30-54 years) females and males, respectively, and the incidence has six-doubled during the last 30 years. Median survival for patients with metastatic melanoma is 6 months. Many agents have been investigated for anti-tumor effect in melanoma, but there is no accepted standard therapy. Biochemotherapy, combining cytotoxic drugs with Interleukin-2 or Interferon alpha, has not been shown to be superior to single agent Dacarbazine (DTIC), which is regarded to be the most active agent. Other biological approaches like vaccination are currently under investigation, but still no efficient treatment for metastatic melanoma is available. DTIC induces objective remission in 20% of the patients, but without significant impact on survival. The need of a new and effective treatment for the group of melanoma patients is urgently needed. This will be the first study to assess response rates of bevacizumab monotherapy in first line treatment of metastatic melanoma. In addition there will be a major focus on the identification of predictive biomarkers of bevacizumab efficacy.