Drug treatment for melanoma: progress, but who pays?

To the Editor: The recent editorial by Kefford1 fails to mention that (i) the 5-year survival for malignant melanoma is excellent at 89% for males and 91% for females; (ii) treatment with the new melanoma drug ipilimumab for the 1279 people who died from melanoma in 2007 would cost the Australian Government $156 million based on the quoted drug cost of $120 000 for a course of four injections; and (iii) the increase in survival is only minimal with ipilimumab (median survival, 10.1 months v 6.4 months for placebo).2