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i’m cautious. I basically heard the same thing about a malignant melanoma “cure” about six years ago, 99% reduction, no trace, and so on - but it couldn’t get to 100%, the cancer came back as some other genetic type, even more virulent.

Let’s suppose that it works. What will it cost? There is a hepatitis C cure that really does work most of the time; the bad news is that it’s about 100 grand.

The best melanoma cure remains either to not get it in the first place. Reducing UV exposure will prevent some, though not all, melanomas. Or, next best, to recognize it early while relatively simple surgery can cure it. Which is possible in a large majority of cases. There are many online resources on what and how to look for with melanoma. Check them out then check yourselves out. This is a disease in which self reliant behavior can save your life. If you see something suspicious get it looked at by a doctor. Those who insist on using their personal liberty to embrace UV risk should hedge their bets by embracing the personal responsibility to educate and monitor themselves. And don't restrict your education to melanoma. Basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma are twenty-fold more common skin cancers, are more strongly linked to UV exposure than melanoma, and although rarely fatal can cause significant damage if not caught early.

The first two melanoma drugs came out about 6 years ago. One worked to buy about half of melanoma cases about 6 months, but then recurrence was expected. The other only worked in a third or a fourth, but produced some long term benefits. Both were notable because the older options for metastatic melanoma were pretty useless. The new 'check point' inhibitor drugs offer a higher response rate and longer duration of benefits. Encouragingly their benefits hadn't yet peaked in the early studies. This new class of drugs can be combined with the latter of the two older advances in melanoma and they seem to be useful in several other tumors, not just in melanoma. The responding tumor list is growing and small cell lung cancer may also be on it. Give the Oncologists a bit more time to learn how to optimize their use and melanoma will become another cancer for which Medical Oncology can offer more than paliation. But it will still be better, and less expensive, to catch melanoma before the Oncologist is needed, or to avoid getting it at all.