Melanoma Clinical Trials
There are 493 actively recruiting melanoma clinical trials across 48 countries. Studies span Phase 2, Phase 1, Not Applicable, Phase 3, Early Phase 1, Phase 4. Top locations include Houston, Texas, United States, New York, New York, United States, Los Angeles, California, United States. Updated daily from ClinicalTrials.gov.
Melanoma Trials at a Glance
493 actively recruiting trials for melanoma are listed on ClinicalTrialsFinder across 6 cities in 48 countries. The largest study group is Phase 2 with 178 trials, with the heaviest enrollment activity in Houston, New York, and Los Angeles. Lead sponsors running melanoma studies include M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, National Cancer Institute (NCI), and University Health Network, Toronto.
Browse melanoma trials by phase
Top cities for melanoma trials
Understanding Melanoma Clinical Trials
Clinical trials have completely transformed melanoma from one of the most treatment-resistant cancers to one of the most treatable. The combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) — developed and validated through clinical trials — can produce long-term survival in over 50 percent of patients with advanced melanoma, a disease that was nearly universally fatal just 15 years ago. BRAF-targeted combinations like dabrafenib plus trametinib offer rapid tumor shrinkage for the approximately 50 percent of melanomas harboring BRAF V600 mutations. Trials are now pushing further, testing personalized cancer vaccines, novel checkpoint combinations, and neoadjuvant strategies that could improve cure rates even more.
Why Consider a Clinical Trial?
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Melanoma clinical trials
Neoadjuvant immunotherapy means receiving checkpoint inhibitor treatment before surgery to remove melanoma. Recent trials have shown this approach can produce complete pathologic responses (no viable cancer found in the surgical specimen) in a significant percentage of patients. It may improve long-term outcomes and is being studied in multiple ongoing clinical trials for resectable stage III and IV melanoma.
Yes. Personalized neoantigen vaccines, which are custom-made based on your individual tumor's unique mutations, are being tested in several melanoma clinical trials. Early results have been promising when combined with checkpoint immunotherapy. These vaccines are currently only available through clinical trial participation.
It depends on the severity and type of side effects you experienced. Some trials are specifically designed for patients who had to stop immunotherapy due to immune-related adverse events, offering alternative treatment approaches. Others may exclude patients with certain prior toxicities. Discuss your specific history with the study team to find appropriate options.
BRAF status is determined through molecular testing of your melanoma tissue, usually from a biopsy. About half of cutaneous melanomas carry BRAF mutations that make them eligible for BRAF-targeted therapy. Your BRAF status also influences immunotherapy treatment decisions and determines which clinical trials you qualify for. This testing should be performed on all advanced melanomas.
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