Hunter researchers make major step forward in melanoma treatment

BY DAKOTA TAIT

Researchers at the Hunter Medical Research Institute and University of Newcastle have made a breakthrough in treating late-stage melanoma.

Using a combination of two existing drug treatments, they've managed to significantly improve survival times for patients.

Professor Nikola Bowden says the results are exciting. 

"This clinical trial was people with melanoma who are resistant to all our current treatments," she said.

"What we did was take really old chemotherapy drugs and repurpose them to treat the patients and then to put them back on their previous immunotherapy treatment."

"The combination has worked really well."

The team says it was able to re-sensitise cancer cells to immunotherapy, through the combination of Azacitidine and Carboplatin.

It's been investigating their potential since 2015, with 20 people taking part in the trial between 2017 and 2021.

The patients survived an average of 47 weeks, and four of the patients are still alive today.

A second stage of trials is now underway using updated immunotherapy drugs, and initial results suggest it could be even more promising. 

"This group of patients have no other treatment options and have a very short prognosis usually," Prof Bowden said.

"It's an option for them, when all the other drugs have stopped working, and there's potential that it will work in other cancers as well."

Image credit: Hunter Medical Research Institute.

Hunter Melanoma Foundation Offering Father's Day Gift Packs for Local Dads

BY DAKOTA TAIT

The Hunter Melanoma Foundation says those who might have forgotten to grab their dad a gift this Sunday shouldn't worry - the charity is working with local businesses to offer Father's Day gift packs and raise money for melanoma education and prevention.

The gift packs contain a range of treats, including golf umbrellas, canvas hats, and a local bottle of either Moscato, Reserve Chardonnay or Merlot from Gemelli Estate.

Executive officer Claudia Tolhurst says she hopes the Father's Day gift packs would be a similar hit to HMF's successful Mother's Day gift packs earlier this year.

"When COVID hit we had to look at some new ways of fundraising, so we decided to put some Mother's Day packs together and they were quite successful," Ms Tolhurst said.

"We decided we'd put some Father's Day packs together so that we could provide some options for people with free delivery where they could support a local charity and spoil their dad all at once."

Ms Tolhurst says fundraising effort and donations to the HMF were just as important as ever - the deadly disease doesn't stop for a pandemic.

"The money that we raise from the Father's Day packs goes towards our education programs," said Ms Tolhurst. "We go out into the community, into the schools in various community groups and teach people about the importance of the prevention of melanoma and also the importance of early detection."

You can grab a gift pack for your dad with free delivery all Friday at https://shop.hmf.org.au/.

Image credit: https://shop.hmf.org.au/