Many patients at Fred Hutch Cancer Center receive promising therapies by taking part in clinical trials. These research studies are done by researchers from Fred Hutch and UW Medicine. They test new treatments or new ways to use current treatments. We have a wide variety of clinical trials for melanoma, including studies of vaccines, immune cell treatments and other immunotherapies.
Every advance in cancer treatment in recent years has come out of clinical trials. We offer more active clinical trials than anywhere else, which means more treatment options for patients like you.
Melanoma Clinical Trials
Fred Hutch typically has over 750 active cancer clinical trials enrolling participants.
Clinical trials may allow some patients access to a promising new treatment, and help physicians and researchers learn more about a disease.
Melanoma Research Continues to Advance
New melanoma treatments continue to be developed, allowing more patients to live longer, free of any signs or symptoms of the disease. Still, today’s options do not work as well as we want for every person, and we are actively pursuing new types of melanoma therapy that will be more effective.
Our physicians are working toward being able to stage and characterize melanoma down to the molecular level. Defining the genetic changes that cause different types of melanoma will help us identify patients whose disease may respond better to more customized regimens.
Melanoma and Immunotherapy
Our work on melanoma focuses on harnessing the immune system to treat the disease. We are experimenting with empowering a patient’s own melanoma-attacking immune cells, called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes or TILs, to better target their tumor. Other clinical trials include studies of checkpoint inhibitors and experimental immune-stimulating therapies for people with melanoma.
Kevin Barry, PhD, does melanoma research and is an assistant professor in Fred Hutch’s Public Health Sciences Division. His team is exploring new ways to harness the immune system to attack melanomas and protect patients.
Sylvia Lee, MD, is a medical oncologist who treats patients with melanoma and is associate professor in the Program in Immunology in the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutch. She is interested in developing T-cell therapies for solid tumors and studies TIL.
Our Melanoma Researchers and Faculty
Our scientists and providers work together to prevent, diagnose and treat melanoma as well as other skin cancers and diseases. The lab research and clinical research they do are essential parts of the scientific process that leads to new melanoma treatments and better care. Many of our melanoma providers also do research in addition to seeing patients. Clinical trials can also be a way for patients to get early access to new leading-edge therapies. Our research teams are running many clinical studies for people with melanoma.
