Seems to raise issues to be discussed with clinicians in deciding on treatment strategies: if both Yervoy and Zelboraf are options, should Yervoy be the first option and Zelboraf the backup, especially if mets are not extensive when treatment for newly-diagnosed patients at Stage IV begins? Is there a current back-up to Zelboraf when Zelboraf is no longer effective? Is that realistically Yervoy, since Yervoy apparently takes some months to evoke an effective immunological response even in patients who do respond to it? Asked this last question of a prominent medical oncologist who has been actively involoved in research on both drugs; response was "that's a good question." Probably is, but it's also the patient's quality of life and the patient's survival time, and if the order in which treatments are used potentially impacts time of survival, it's an important question in the near term, until an effective way to block the relapses is developed.
