James Larkin, a consultant medical oncologist at the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust and a professor at the Institute of Cancer Research, told The Guardian: “The definition of cure is to return someone to their normal life expectancy for their age and state of health.
“Having treated a lot of these patients over the past 10 years it seems that some are cured: they’re back to their normal lives, they’re getting on with things.”
Dr Sam Godfrey, the science engagement lead at Cancer Research UK, said: “Over the last decade, there have been big improvements in survival for people with advanced melanoma skin cancer, partially because of the introduction of a group of immunotherapy drugs called checkpoint inhibitors.
“This study indicates that combining two of these checkpoint inhibitors led to more people surviving their disease for 10 years or more.
“Promising results like this show how vital ongoing research into cancer is, to help people live longer, better lives.”
The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.