Two pills shrank tumors in about a third of people with eye melanoma

Eye melanoma is rare, and most of us will never face it. Still, there is real good news this week for people who do. In a new study of people whose melanoma had started in the eye and spread, two pills taken by mouth shrank tumors in about a third of them, and the disease was under control in about 9 in 10 at the 8-week check.

That is a meaningful step for a cancer that has had very few good options. It also shows how fast targeted medicine is moving, even for the rarest cancers.

How the study worked

Researchers gave two pills, darovasertib (300 mg) and crizotinib (200 mg), twice a day to 44 people whose eye melanoma had spread and who had not had any treatment yet. It was a phase 2 study run at several centers, and the results were published Oct. 28, 2026, in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Everyone received the pills and there was no comparison group, so larger studies will show how the pair stacks up against other options.

Why do these two pills fit eye melanoma?

Eye melanoma (doctors call it uveal melanoma) is different from skin melanoma. When it spreads, it is hard to treat.

In 95% of these tumors, changes in genes called GNAQ or GNA11 switch on a growth signal that runs through a protein called PKC. Darovasertib blocks PKC. Crizotinib blocks a second protein called MET. Together, they go after the engine that drives most of these tumors.

What they found

The tumors shrank in 34.1% of the people, about a third. The disease was under control in 90.2% of them at 8 weeks, about 9 in 10. When tumors did shrink, the response lasted a median of 9.0 months.

Half of the people went 7.0 months before their cancer grew. Half lived longer than 21.1 months.

The pills do cause side effects, mostly stomach trouble. Diarrhea affected 95.2% of people and nausea 84.1%. Swelling in the legs and feet showed up in 61.4%, and vomiting in 52.3%. The most common serious problems were blood clots in the lungs (9.1%) and iron deficiency anemia (6.8%). Three people (6.8%) stopped the treatment because of side effects, which means almost everyone stayed on it.

What you can do today

You can’t control whether a rare cancer shows up, but you can make sure a doctor looks inside your eyes on a regular schedule. Eye exams are one of the ways these tumors get found early.

Take two minutes now. Think back to your last full eye exam. If it has been more than two years, put a reminder on your phone to book the next one this week. If you’ve noticed a new spot or a change in your vision, mention it when you call.