BRAF inhibitors

  •  

    What’s New in Melanoma Treatment in 2021?

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    I last wrote about melanoma treatment more than 2 years ago, a fairly long time in the evolution of treatments for this type of cancer. Just as a refresher, the current mainstays of drugs to treat melanoma fall into two categories: Now, I highlight new developments in melanoma treatment, including overcoming resistance to ICI. Neoadjuvant (before surgery) treatments for resectable melanoma Some stage III… Read more »

  •   Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from The ASCO Post:

    In patients with advanced BRAF V600–mutant melanoma, combining the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib (Braftovi) with the MEK inhibitor binimetinib (Mektovi) improved overall survival compared to vemurafenib (Zelboraf) or encorafenib as monotherapy, with a favorable toxicity profile, according to updated results from the phase III COLUMBUS trial.

    “Combined BRAF/MEK inhibitor therapy is standard of care in advanced BRAF V600–mutant melanoma, but approved combinations have unique toxicities that may impact the ability to deliver optimal treatment (ie, vemurafenib/cobimetinib [Cotellic] is associated with photosensitivity).”

    Go to full article published by The ASCO Post on Sep 10, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  •  

    Melanoma: New Drugs and New Challenges (Part 2 of 2)

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    As always, the more new treatments become available in melanoma, the more new challenges arise. With eight new drugs approved for melanoma in the last five years, oncologists may sometimes face the difficult choice of what drugs to choose for a patient’s first-line treatment. Immune checkpoint drugs sometimes cause serious side effects, but progress is being made on how to treat these and also how to treat patients with pre-existing autoimmune conditions. New approaches are needed in efforts to prevent recurrence of melanomas diagnosed at earlier stages of disease progression.

  •  

    Melanoma: New Drugs and New Challenges (Part 1 of 2)

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    New targeted and immunotherapy drugs have changed the diagnosis of metastatic melanoma from a death sentence into a disease that can potentially be managed and even cured. Nevertheless, these new drugs do not work in all patients, or they may stop working after a transient response. This post (part one of two) will describe ongoing efforts to find drug combinations with higher efficacy than single drugs and decipher the mechanisms underlying drug resistance.