Efficacy and safety of apatinib in patients with recurrent or refractory melanoma.
e22026 Background: The prognosis of patients with metastatic malignant melanoma is very poor, a fact that is partly due to its high resistance to conventional chemotherapies. The objectives of this phase II trial were to assess the activity and tolerability of apatinib, an oral small molecule anti-angiogenesis inhibitor, in patients with recurrent advanced melanoma. Methods: This was a single arm, single center phase II trial. The primary endpoint was progression free survival (PFS), and the second endpoints was objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR) and overall survival (OS). Eligible patients received at least one prior line of therapy for advanced melanoma and experienced recurrence. Apatinib was given daily at a dose of 500 mg orally. This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT03383237 . Results: A total of 17 patients were included in the final analysis. The median PFS was 4.5 months. There were two major objective responses, for a response rate of 11.8%. Thirteen patients had a stable disease, for a DCR of 88.2%. The median OS was 11.5 months. The most common clinically significant grade 3 or 4 toxicities included hypertension (n = 1) and canker sore (n = 1). No treatment-related death occurred. Conclusions: Apatinib showed antitumor activity as a second or above line therapy in patients with malignant melanoma. The toxicity was manageable. Clinical trial information: NCT03383237.