Two new experimental treatments for advanced melanoma have shown promise in keeping the deadly skin cancer at bay, according to research presented in the United States on Monday.

The agents, known as Trametinib and Dabrafenib, are being developed by the British pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline, and were tested in clinical trials against standard chemotherapy treatments.

The trial on Trametinib included 322 people, of whom 214 took the experimental drug while the rest did standard chemotherapy, researchers said at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.