‘Significant Milestone’ Brings New Weapon to Advanced Melanoma Fight

The FDA recently approved a first-in-class agent to treat a particularly deadly cancer. The therapy, Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc.’s Amtagvi (lifileucel), signifies a promising new development in the treatment of solid tumors, which represent about 90% of all cancers in the U.S. While the drug comes with a price tag of more than $500,000, as well as additional costs, payers’ experience with chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T) therapies should be helpful in their coverage of the new agent, say industry sources.

On Feb. 16, the FDA gave accelerated approval to Amtagvi for the treatment of adults with unresectable or metastatic melanoma previously treated with a programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) inhibitor and, if BRAF V600 positive, a BRAF inhibitor with or without a MEK inhibitor. The agency gave the therapy orphan drug, regenerative medicine advanced therapy, fast track and priority review designations.