Two new drugs are poised as breakthroughs in the treatment of the deadliest form of skin cancer.

In trials of 670 people with advanced melanoma, the risk of death was reduced by 63% for those taking vemurafenib, which targets a genetic mutation found in cancer cells of about half melanoma patients.

The results were so good that the British research team running the trials stopped it early so that they could switch all the patients to vemurafenib.

Trials of a second drug ipilimumab, which works by stimulating the immune system to fight tumours, have indicated that it can prolong the lives of advanced melanoma sufferers for months and possibly years when taken in combination with chemotherapy.