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Clinical Trials
melanoma clinical trials

Clinical Trials

A primary goal of the foundation is to raise money for advancing research that will lead to new treatments and someday a cure for melanoma. One reason melanoma is so deadly is it reacts differently in every patient. Under the microscope, a melanoma cell from one patient may look exactly the same as a melanoma cell in another patient, yet one patient may respond very well to a treatment while the second patient may not respond at all. This is why researchers now believe the patient's immune system is key.

Most of the new trials are immunotherapy-based. Revving up the body's own immune system to fight melanoma cells is showing promising results for a durable response.

To date, only one FDA-approved immunotherapy for melanoma patients exists: High Dose IL-2. This treatment is extremely hard on the patient with an approximate 10% to 15% response rate. New drugs and treatments that show improved responses in melanoma patients are needed.

Donating money to the Dean Hedstrom Foundation for Melanoma Awareness (DHFMA) provides funds to support the latest melanoma research. In 2010, the Dean Hedstrom Research Fund at UCSF received a donation from the DHFMA to further the work of Dr. Adil Daud, Director of the Melanoma Department at UCSF.