Treatment for some melanoma patients shows promise
So if a melanoma patient has a BRAF mutation and needs targeted treatment to treat cancer, they can get a BRAF inhibitor drug, like dabrafenib, in addition to a MEK inhibitor drug, such as trametinib ̵[ads1]1; since their combination The substances seem to work better than using either one alone.
The new study involved analyzing data from two previous studies evaluating adult melanoma patients treated with dabrafenib and trametinib. Dabrafenib is sold as the brand name Tafinlar, and trametinib is sold as Mekinist.
These data included 563 patients randomized to receive dabrafenib twice daily, plus trametinib once daily. Pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmith-Kline and Novartis sponsored the trials.
After five years after first-time treatment with dabrafenib plus trametinib, researchers found that 19% of patients were progression free and overall survival was 34%.
For comparison, in the dabrafenib plus placebo group and in the vemurafenib group, the five-year survival rate was 27% and 23%, respectively.
"While metastatic melanoma historically Having had a very poor prognosis for patients, there are many reasons to be encouraged today. Our analysis shows clinically meaningful and positive impact on the patient's survival. These results show that targeted therapies can provide long-term survival and lasting results, "she said.
Some side effects led patients to end the experiment, which included fever, reduced blood pumping in the heart and increased levels of a particular enzyme in the liver and kidneys. [19659015] "This study deals with half to 60% of patients with metastatic melanoma expressing BRAF V600E or V600. For these patients, there has been a question mark, "said Dr. Otis Brawley, Bloomberg's prominent professor of oncology and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who was not involved in the study.
" This study is well conducted and suggests that patients who express the markers are more likely to benefit from the two targetted therapies in combination as a first treatment rather than immunotherapy. It clarifies the question, "Brawley said.
" It's another discovery – the longer people survived the fewer recurrences. This suggests that a small proportion of these patients are hardened by melanoma, he says. "We in medical oncology are uncertain about using the word cure when talking about metastatic solid tumors, but the fact that the long-term survival curves are extremely encouraging."
