FDA Approves an Oncolytic Viral Therapy for Melanoma

Amgen announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Biologics License Application for IMLYGICTM (talimogene laherparepvec), a genetically modified oncolytic viral therapy indicated for the local treatment of unresectable cutaneous, subcutaneous and nodal lesions in patients with melanoma recurrent after initial surgery. IMLYGIC has not been shown to improve overall survival or have an effect on visceral metastases. IMLYGIC is the first oncolytic viral therapy approved by the FDA based on therapeutic benefit demonstrated in a pivotal study.

The approval came as the result of a recent Phase III study, which showed that more patients with late-stage melanoma, treated with a herpes cold sore virus designed to kill tumor cells, had a better response when compared to a different treatment. Robert Andtbacka, M.D., from Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah and Howard L. Kaufman, M.D., from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, led the multisite study, published May 26 online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.