SITC 2026 recap from a melanoma and sarcoma oncologist: next-gen TIL, dual bispecifics, cell therapy in sarcoma, and why infusion timing may matter.
Three-year NADINA data showed something that shouldn’t happen: near-complete responders did substantially worse than partial responders — 62.3% versus 87.5% recurrence-free survival. One design feature separates NADINA from every neoadjuvant melanoma trial before it. NADINA mandated full lymph node dissection in every patient; PRADO left the basin alone in major responders. I think that may be the explanation, and nobody raised it.
For the first time, an individualized mRNA cancer vaccine has beaten standard-of-care immunotherapy in a randomized phase 3 trial. INTerpath-001 showed a 42% reduction in recurrence risk and an 8-point absolute gain in freedom from distant metastasis in resected stage IIB–IV melanoma — with essentially no added toxicity. Here is what the data showed, and the four questions I think determine how we use it well.
Four randomized trials and one excellent symposium defined day one of the melanoma program at ESMO 2026 in Madrid: an oral HDAC inhibitor added to nivolumab, a BRAF/MEK-plus-immunotherapy triplet, two trials pushing TIL cell therapy earlier and lighter, and a landscape in metastatic uveal melanoma that has changed faster than most providers realize. Here is the data as presented, and my take on each.
It’s been a while since my last post. That’s not for lack of news. These past several months have been some of the fullest of my life: clinic, program building, my directorship, speaking, consulting, the businesses my wife and I run together, and most importantly, being a husband and a dad to four kids. Writing …
What the disease is, why it clusters where it does, and how we fight it today
Three different problems seen in recent weeks— a steroid reflex, a test without a plan, a patient chasing a rumor — but the same underlying discipline: ask whether what you’re doing actually changes the outcome, and be honest when it doesn’t. As always, I welcome pushback and other perspectives — feel free to reach out. …
A melanoma oncologist unpacks the new Phase 3 personalized mRNA cancer vaccine data — what it shows, what’s still unknown, and the questions patients are asking this week.
After two rejections, the FDA approved a new melanoma therapy that finally reaches beyond the skin — into the liver, into the lungs. Here’s why the third try worked.
A mountainside peer-to-peer call, three organizations, and one melanoma patient who now has a shot at TIL therapy — a look at what happens when payers, manufacturers, and providers actually move together.