'Revolutionary' cancer drug gives hope to melanoma sufferers

A revolutionary cancer drug has been found that helps boost a patient's chances of surviving melanoma by up to four years.

Doctors hope it will lead to the cancer one day being a chronic illness rather than a deadly one.

High profile Australian businessman Ron Walker and former US President Jimmy Carter credit the drug Keytruda with saving their lives.

Erin Youngerber, another melanoma sufferer, had the same to say for it.

“The drug has given hope and let me get back to a normal life,” she said.

New evidence suggests it could do the same for AFL star Jarryd Roughead as he fights the cancer a second time.

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“We've made a huge impact in this disease that had very little hope before,” Stephen Hodi from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute said.

Previously, advanced melanoma sufferers survived only eleven months after diagnosis, but an American study has found 40 percent of patients treated with Keytruda are still alive after three years.

Tim Turnham from the Melanoma Research Foundation said the drug offers hope to patients.

“We have an opportunity to give people with advanced melanoma a chance to live longer and maybe for some people, make their melanoma go away forever,” he said.

Keytruda was only added to Australia's pharmaceutical benefits scheme late last year, slashing the cost from more than $150,000 a year to less than $1,000.

It is a "wonder drug" for many but doctors have said it is not a cure.