A large international study has brought good news for people battling melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Researchers found that the drug nivolumab, given after surgery to remove advanced melanoma, can help keep the disease from coming back for many years—much longer than another widely used treatment, ipilimumab.
The results come from the CheckMate 238 trial, which tracked more than 900 patients with stage III or IV melanoma for almost nine years. These patients had their tumors surgically removed but were considered at high risk for the cancer to return. After surgery, they were randomly assigned to receive either nivolumab or ipilimumab for up to a year.
The difference was clear: patients who took nivolumab were more likely to remain cancer-free. At the nine-year mark, 44% of patients treated with nivolumab had no recurrence of melanoma, compared with 37% of those on ipilimumab. On average, patients on nivolumab went just over five years before the cancer returned, while those on ipilimumab went about two years.
For patients with stage III melanoma, nivolumab also lowered the risk of the cancer spreading to distant organs like the lungs, liver, or brain. After nine years, 54% of nivolumab patients remained free of distant spread, compared with 48% of ipilimumab patients.
Interestingly, overall survival—meaning the percentage of patients still alive after nine years—was similar in both groups: 69% for nivolumab and 65% for ipilimumab. Experts say this may be because ipilimumab is still an effective drug, and many patients who relapsed were able to receive other treatments later on. Still, nivolumab clearly reduced the number of people who needed more cancer therapy after their first treatment.
Another important finding is that no new side effects appeared years after treatment. This long-term safety reassurance adds to nivolumab’s appeal, since immunotherapies can sometimes trigger serious immune-related problems.
Overall, the study confirms that nivolumab remains a strong choice for people with high-risk melanoma after surgery. By keeping cancer at bay longer and lowering the risk of spread, it offers patients peace of mind and fewer treatment burdens—even nearly a decade later.
