The latest results from a ‘groundbreaking' international study that involves Irish patients represents a new era in the treatment of one of the most aggressive forms of cancer, scientists have insisted.

Launching their results in the US, the scientists explained that by combining two innovative treatments for malignant melanoma - the deadliest form of skin cancer - they recorded a one-year survival rate of 94% and a two-year survival rate of 88%.

Such survival rates have never been seen before with this type of cancer.

Over 600 people in Ireland develop malignant melanoma every year and around 110 people die annually as a result. It is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer, with three in four people dying within one year of their diagnosis.

This latest research was launched at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 50th annual meeting in Chicago in the US. It centred on combining the advanced melanoma treatment ipilimumab (Yervoy) with the investigational therapy, nivolumab.

Ipilimumab received European marketing authorisation in 2011. It marked the first significant advance in the treatment of malignant melanoma in three decades.

There are four clinical trial sites for this breakthrough treatment in Ireland. As a result, Irish patients are benefitting from this.

According to Dr Mario Sznol of Yale University School of Medicine, who presented the results at the ASCO conference, the treatment of this type of cancer ‘has changed dramatically in the last few years' and these results are ‘very encouraging'.