The study evaluated DiviTum TKa in patients with metastatic melanoma receiving different sequences of immunotherapy and targeted therapy. These patients can receive both types of treatment, but it is not always clear which treatment should be given first.

The analysis included 81 patients from the randomized Phase II SECOMBIT trial. Patients with low TKa levels before treatment initiation had substantially better long-term outcomes than patients with high levels.

Importantly, patients with high TKa appeared to have better outcomes when they received a short period of targeted therapy followed by immunotherapy compared with other treatment sequences.

These findings support the potential of DiviTum TKa to help identify patients with more aggressive disease and provide information that may help determine how different treatments should be sequenced. The study also showed that rising TKa later during treatment was associated with disease progression.

“This publication highlights the potential of DiviTum TKa to support key decisions in oncology drug development, including patient selection, treatment sequencing and response monitoring. It broadens the evidence into immuno-oncology and targeted therapy, strengthens our Pharma Services offering and adds clinical support in an area covered by our growing patent portfolio.” said Theis Kipling, CEO of Biovica

The TKa analysis was exploratory and included a subset of patients from the SECOMBIT trial. The findings support further evaluation of DiviTum TKa in future melanoma and immuno-oncology studies.

The article, titled “Circulating thymidine kinase activity predicts survival and optimal treatment sequencing in BRAF-mutated metastatic melanoma in the SECOMBIT trial”, was published in Clinical Cancer Research.