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Dr. Adil Daud, Clinical Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Melanoma Program, UCSF, discusses cost and the payer/provider relationship around metastatic melanoma medications.
vemurafenib (Brand name:
Dr. Daud discusses the use of Zelboraf) and ipilimumab (Brand name: Yervoy), the FDA-approved medications used in the treatment of metastatic melanoma. The medications are expensive, but Dr. Daud shares there have been little issue covering these specific drugs since they are so effective. Dr. Daud hopes that these are only the first class of this drug pathway extending life expectancy, as he hopes they can eventually bring metastatic melanoma to a chronic disease state and not a death sentence.