Axel Hauschild, MD, PhD of the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany, discusses the exciting new data on Merkel cell carcinoma presented at the 2016 World Congress on Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) and the Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO) in Vienna, Austria. Prof. Hauschild speaks about interesting data recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine and Lancet Oncology on two drugs, a PDL-1 antibody called avelumab and a PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab, which have shown to be effective in the treatment of Merkel cell carcinoma. Prof. Hauschild believes that a new standard of care can be defined for Merkel cell carcinoma and chemotherapy will take a backseat in the near future. Immunotherapy with checkpoint blockade is replacing current chemotherapy because it has shown to have more and longer responses which means better overall survival (OS).
New standard of care for Merkel cell carcinoma
