Five-year results from a phase 3 study show that tebentafusp-tebn significantly improves survival in patients with HLA-A*02:01–positive metastatic uveal melanoma.
Patients treated with tebentafusp lived a median of 21.6 months, compared with 16.9 months for those receiving standard therapies such as pembrolizumab, ipilimumab, or dacarbazine. At five years, 16% of patients in the tebentafusp group were still alive, double the 8% seen with standard treatment. The drug also achieved a higher disease control rate, 46% versus 27%.
The study identified circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) as an important marker of response. Patients whose ctDNA cleared early had much longer survival than those who did not. Even when scans suggested disease progression, many patients continued to benefit from treatment, with ongoing therapy reducing the risk of death and leading to additional tumor shrinkage.
These findings support tebentafusp as a standard treatment offering durable, long-term survival benefits in this hard-to-treat cancer.