Dr. Rapisuwon on Clinical Trial Barriers in the United States in Mucosal Melanoma

Suthee Rapisuwon, MD, medical oncologist, MedStar Health, discusses clinical trial barriers for patients with mucosal melanoma in the United States.

Currently, novel combinations with immunotherapy and targeted therapy are being evaluated for efficacy in patients with mucosal melanoma, says Rapisuwon. Additionally, the utility of checkpoint inhibitors in the adjuvant setting for this patient population is the subject of ongoing research efforts, Rapisuwon explains.

However, clinical trials devoted to evaluating novel regimens in mucosal melanoma are limited in the United States because the number of patients with this specific melanoma subtype in the United States is more limited compared with other parts of the world, Rapisuwon says. For example, in Southeast Asia and China, the majority of patients with melanoma have the mucosal subtype, whereas in the United States, a large proportion of patients have cutaneous melanoma, Rapisuwon explains. As such, it is difficult to enroll patients onto mucosal melanoma clinical trials in the United States, concludes Rapisuwon.