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7 treatment settings, 6 with more than one named option. Each section lays out the options the standard of care names, what each is for, the trials behind them with their recorded results, the side effects and cautions on record, and questions to ask. Built from the cancer page's standard-of-care rows; nothing here is advice for your case.
Wide local excision with sentinel node biopsy; adjuvant radiotherapy to the primary site (and nodal basin if node-positive); adjuvant nivolumab supported by ADMEC-O in selected patients.
Removing just the first lymph node a tumour drains to, instead of all of them, to check for spread.
IMRT and IGRT shape the radiation beam to the tumour's outline from multiple angles and check the patient's position with a scan before every session, so surrounding organs receive less dose. Fewer, larger doses are now standard in breast and prostate cancer, but a low-dose bath still spreads across normal tissue.
Nivolumab was the second PD-1 blocker and is often combined with ipilimumab. Long-term data show about half of advanced melanoma patients alive at 10 years on the combination.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Colitis with ipilimumab (1+3 mg/kg) · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 25% | 14.4% |
| Hepatitis with ipilimumab · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 15% | 13.4% |
| Colitis · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 2.9% | 1.7% |
| Hepatitis · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 1.8% | 1.5% |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Lymphadenectomy and/or nodal radiotherapy; neoadjuvant nivolumab (CheckMate 358) produced pathological complete responses in about half.
Nivolumab was the second PD-1 blocker and is often combined with ipilimumab. Long-term data show about half of advanced melanoma patients alive at 10 years on the combination.
IMRT and IGRT shape the radiation beam to the tumour's outline from multiple angles and check the patient's position with a scan before every session, so surrounding organs receive less dose. Fewer, larger doses are now standard in breast and prostate cancer, but a low-dose bath still spreads across normal tissue.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Colitis with ipilimumab (1+3 mg/kg) · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 25% | 14.4% |
| Hepatitis with ipilimumab · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 15% | 13.4% |
| Colitis · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 2.9% | 1.7% |
| Hepatitis · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 1.8% | 1.5% |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Avelumab, pembrolizumab or retifanlimab; ~50% response with most responses durable.
Avelumab is a PD-L1 blocker given as maintenance after chemotherapy for advanced bladder cancer, which lengthened survival by about seven months.
Pembrolizumab is a PD-1 blocking antibody approved in more than 40 settings, from melanoma and lung cancer to the first tumour-agnostic approval for mismatch-repair-deficient tumours in 2017, and before and after surgery in triple-negative breast cancer. A subcutaneous form arrived in 2025, and it is the backbone partner for ADCs and personalised neoantigen vaccines.
Retifanlimab is a PD-1 antibody approved for Merkel cell carcinoma and, with chemotherapy, as the first immunotherapy standard for advanced anal cancer.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Hypothyroidism (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 8% | - |
| Pneumonitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 3.4% | - |
| Colitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 1.7% | - |
| Hepatitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 0.7% | - |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Platinum-etoposide chemotherapy (brief responses), radiotherapy, clinical trials (ipilimumab-nivolumab, T-VEC, adoptive T cells).
Platinum plus etoposide has been the chemotherapy backbone of small-cell lung cancer for over 40 years, and is now given with immunotherapy.
Ipilimumab was the first checkpoint inhibitor (2011), and proved the immune system could be unleashed against cancer.
Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC, Imlygic) was the first approved oncolytic virus (2015), injected into melanoma skin lesions.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Colitis (with nivolumab 1+3) · Nivolumab 1 mg/kg + ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, melanoma | 25% | 14.4% |
| Hepatitis (with nivolumab) · Nivolumab 1 mg/kg + ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, melanoma | 15% | 13.4% |
| Rash (with nivolumab) · Nivolumab 1 mg/kg + ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, melanoma | 28% | 4.8% |
| Adrenal insufficiency (with nivolumab) · Nivolumab 1 mg/kg + ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, melanoma | 8% | 2.6% |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Avelumab, pembrolizumab and retifanlimab are all approved and none has been compared with another. First-line response was 39.7 per cent with avelumab in 116 patients, 56 per cent with pembrolizumab in 50 and 54.5 per cent with retifanlimab in 101. The retifanlimab study is the most fully reported: 17.8 per cent complete responses, median duration of response not reached in complete responders and 25.3 months in partial responders, median progression-free survival 16.0 months, and 63 per cent of patients alive at three years, in a disease where chemotherapy responses were measured in months. Grade 3 immune-related adverse events occurred in 10.9 per cent. Which antibody is used matters far less than that roughly half of patients respond and most responders keep responding.
Retifanlimab is a PD-1 antibody approved for Merkel cell carcinoma and, with chemotherapy, as the first immunotherapy standard for advanced anal cancer.
Avelumab is a PD-L1 blocker given as maintenance after chemotherapy for advanced bladder cancer, which lengthened survival by about seven months.
Pembrolizumab is a PD-1 blocking antibody approved in more than 40 settings, from melanoma and lung cancer to the first tumour-agnostic approval for mismatch-repair-deficient tumours in 2017, and before and after surgery in triple-negative breast cancer. A subcutaneous form arrived in 2025, and it is the backbone partner for ADCs and personalised neoantigen vaccines.
Objective response in 54.5 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval 44.2 to 64.4) with complete responses in 17.8 per cent, median progression-free survival 16.0 months, and 63 per cent of patients alive at three years.
Objective response 31.8% after chemotherapy (part A) and 39.7% first line (part B).
Objective response 56%, durable in most responders; similar in virus-positive and virus-negative tumours.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Hypothyroidism (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 8% | - |
| Pneumonitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 3.4% | - |
| Colitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 1.7% | - |
| Hepatitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 0.7% | - |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
ADMEC-O randomised 179 patients with completely resected Merkel cell carcinoma 2 to 1 to a year of nivolumab or to observation. Disease-free survival was 85 per cent at 12 months and 84 per cent at 24 with nivolumab against 77 and 73 per cent with observation, a hazard ratio of 0.58 whose 95 per cent confidence interval, 0.30 to 1.12, crosses one; the authors state it as an absolute risk reduction of 9 and 10 percentage points. Grade 3 or 4 adverse events occurred in 42 per cent against 11 per cent. Overall survival had ten events against six in a group half the size and is not mature. This is a phase 2 signal in a rare disease, not a proven standard, and the randomised phase 3 that would settle it, STAMP, has not reported.
Nivolumab was the second PD-1 blocker and is often combined with ipilimumab. Long-term data show about half of advanced melanoma patients alive at 10 years on the combination.
Averages across everyone diagnosed, often years ago. A median is the middle of a group: half the people counted lived longer than the figure shown, and some lived far longer. Your stage, subtype, age, fitness and the treatment you receive matter more than the average, and the numbers are improving quickly.
No headline result recorded yet.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Colitis with ipilimumab (1+3 mg/kg) · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 25% | 14.4% |
| Hepatitis with ipilimumab · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 15% | 13.4% |
| Colitis · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 2.9% | 1.7% |
| Hepatitis · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 1.8% | 1.5% |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
NICE technology appraisal TA691 recommendation 1.1 recommends avelumab for metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma in adults who have not had chemotherapy for metastatic disease, under a commercial arrangement, on evidence collected in the Cancer Drugs Fund under TA517. TA517 recommendation 1.1 continues to cover its use after one or more lines of chemotherapy. Pembrolizumab and retifanlimab have no NICE appraisal for this disease.
Avelumab is a PD-L1 blocker given as maintenance after chemotherapy for advanced bladder cancer, which lengthened survival by about seven months.
Pembrolizumab is a PD-1 blocking antibody approved in more than 40 settings, from melanoma and lung cancer to the first tumour-agnostic approval for mismatch-repair-deficient tumours in 2017, and before and after surgery in triple-negative breast cancer. A subcutaneous form arrived in 2025, and it is the backbone partner for ADCs and personalised neoantigen vaccines.
Retifanlimab is a PD-1 antibody approved for Merkel cell carcinoma and, with chemotherapy, as the first immunotherapy standard for advanced anal cancer.
Objective response 31.8% after chemotherapy (part A) and 39.7% first line (part B).
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Hypothyroidism (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 8% | - |
| Pneumonitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 3.4% | - |
| Colitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 1.7% | - |
| Hepatitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 0.7% | - |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.