Paolo Ascierto, Full Professor of Oncology at the University of Naples Federico II, Director of the Department of Melanoma, Cancer Immunotherapy and Development Therapeutics at the National Cancer Institute IRCCS Pascale Foundation, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“It’s official: NADINA is a reality!
From today it is in black and white in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic: a fundamental step for dermatological oncology and for all melanoma patients.
NADINA is not just a name: it is a new therapeutic paradigm.
Thanks to the request submitted by AIOM, the combination of drugs envisaged by the NADINA study has been included in the list of medicines that can be dispensed by the NHS pursuant to Law 648/96 – finally making an innovative neoadjuvant treatment approach accessible.
What does it mean?
It means starting therapy before surgery, ‘arming’ the immune system with two cycles of immunotherapy (ipilimumab + nivolumab) to target melanoma when it is most vulnerable.
After surgery, the pathological response guides the pathway:
≤10% of residual tumor cells → major pathological response (MMR): there is no need to continue immunotherapy.
>10% residual → partial or no response: continue with nivolumab monotherapy for 11 cycles (adjuvant).
The results of the NADINA study speak for themselves:
- Significant increase in pathological responses,
- Improved event-free survival (EFS)
- Reduction of post-operative treatments in responding patients.
A real paradigm shift towards more targeted, effective and personalized therapies.
Today, the publication in the Official Gazette does not only sanction an administrative act: marks the beginning of a new era in melanoma management.”
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