--- title: New Cancer Drug Combination Shrinks Tumors in 60% of Patients: Study description: A study at the American Society of Clinical Oncology suggests two cancer drugs can shrink tumors in nearly 60% of people canonical: https://time.com/3902868/cancer-tumors-melanoma-ipilimumab-nivolumab/ author: Alissa Greenberg article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-01T07:06:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:18.727Z article:section: Health og:title: Cancer Drug Combination Shrinks Tumors in 60% of Patients og:description: A new study shows promising results for the treatment of melanoma. og:url: https://time.com/3902868/cancer-tumors-melanoma-ipilimumab-nivolumab/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f3f3ffb93dae2e7/69885264f887dcc4ffe90b50/128612415.jpg?branch=production&width=464&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 464 og:image:height: 261 og:image:alt: 128612415 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cancer Drug Combination Shrinks Tumors in 60% of Patients twitter:description: A new study shows promising results for the treatment of melanoma. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f3f3ffb93dae2e7/69885264f887dcc4ffe90b50/128612415.jpg?branch=production&width=464&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New Cancer Drug Combination Shrinks Tumors in 60% of Patients, Says Study > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: TIME Explains: Cancer Screenings [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Explains: Cancer Screenings](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pAMu9cRG.m3u8) (1:51)  _Published 2012-10-01. TIME's Alice Park explains how new cancer screening recommendations effect you_ by [Alissa Greenberg](https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/) ## Alissa Greenberg Jun 1, 2015 7:06 AM UTC  Melanoma Cell Melanoma Cell Science Source/Getty Images by [Alissa Greenberg](https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/) ## Alissa Greenberg Jun 1, 2015 7:06 AM UTC Two cancer drugs, when taken in concert, can [shrink](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32951892) tumors in nearly 60% of people with advanced-stage melanoma, according to a new study. The trial, which enrolled 945 patients at 137 sites worldwide, found that treating the cancer with medications ipilimumab and nivolumab stopped its advance for almost a year in more than half of cases, the BBC reports, citing a presentation by U.K. doctors this weekend at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual conference. Both drugs are designed to bring the body’s natural defenses in on the fight against the cancer. While the immune system is generally a potent agent in combatting disease, certain built-in “brakes” keep the body from attacking its own tissue — a loophole that cancers can use to continue growing unchecked. But both medications turn those “brakes” off. In the study, 58% of patients taking both medicines saw their tumours shrink by at least a third over the course of almost a year. Still, perhaps the most important information — how long patients treated with the two medications live — is unknown, and will remain so for some time. Skin cancer is among the most common cancers; according to the American Cancer Society (ACS), while melanoma accounts for less than 2% of skin cancers, it causes the majority of skin cancer deaths. The ACS predicts that nearly 10,000 Americans will die of skin cancer in 2015. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32951892)\] ## Transcript In recent months, public health experts have said that not everyone should get screened for cancer, but that doesn't mean that you don't need to be screened. Here is what you need to know. [ MUSIC ] It used to be relatively straight forward that getting screened for cancer was a good way to prevent the disease. But a government group called the US Preventive Services Task Force has recently said that women, for example, Don't need to get mammograms until they're age 50, which is a full decade after previous recommendations had suggested that women get screened. And for men they now say that they don't need to get the blood test PSA which screens for prostate cancer at all. What hasn't changed is the idea that getting screened can prevent cancer. What has changed is the fact that we're better at calculating the risks and benefits of that screening. Lets take breast cancer for example, mammograms are actually x- rays, and so therefore expose women to a small dose of radiation each time they get screened. In addition, not every screening test is 100 % perfect, so they'll pick up. Some false positives, which means cancers that aren't really there. And that can lead to additional procedures, tests, and even surgery, which comes with its own complications. This is particularly true in prostate cancer which is such a slow growing cancer that most men are likely to outlive it. When the panel analyzed these costs and benefits They realized that the benefits did not outweigh the cost of having everyone screened. This doesn't mean that cancer screening is completely obsolete, however. The burden has really shifted to the patents to bring this up with their doctors and to talk about their individual risks for cancer. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3902868/cancer-tumors-melanoma-ipilimumab-nivolumab/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3902868/cancer-tumors-melanoma-ipilimumab-nivolumab/"},"headline":"New Cancer Drug Combination Shrinks Tumors in 60% of Patients, Says Study","datePublished":"2015-06-01T07:06:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:03:18.727Z","description":"However, the associated side-effects of the dual treatment are amplified","url":"https://time.com/3902868/cancer-tumors-melanoma-ipilimumab-nivolumab/","keywords":["Cancer","medicine","Drugs","health","melanoma"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f3f3ffb93dae2e7/69885264f887dcc4ffe90b50/128612415.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alissa Greenberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f3f3ffb93dae2e7/69885264f887dcc4ffe90b50/128612415.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"128612415","caption":"Melanoma Cell","creditText":"Science Source/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/cancer/","name":"Cancer"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3902868/cancer-tumors-melanoma-ipilimumab-nivolumab/","name":"New Cancer Drug Combination Shrinks Tumors in 60% of Patients, Says Study"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Explains: Cancer Screenings","description":"TIME's Alice Park explains how new cancer screening recommendations effect you","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/pAMu9cRG/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2012-10-01T11:28:53.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pAMu9cRG.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3902868/cancer-tumors-melanoma-ipilimumab-nivolumab/","duration":"PT1M51S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3902868/cancer-tumors-melanoma-ipilimumab-nivolumab/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```