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Clinical trials

New options for melanoma?

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology volume 9, page 368 (2012)Cite this article

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The blood–brain barrier has long been a major obstacle in the systemic treatment of patients with brain metastases, who are often excluded from clinical trials. An example of this issue is patients with melanoma that has metastasized to the brain, these patients have a median overall survival of only 4–5 months, which is even shorter than the already poor survival for patients with advanced-stage melanoma without metastases (9–11 months). The advent of the BRAF-targeting agent vemurafenib has improved the treatment options for patients with BRAF-mutated melanoma, and now a second-generation BRAF-targeting agent, dabrafenib, has shown activity in early clinical trials including patients with brain metastases.

The phase I trial was led by Gerald Falchook and recruited 184 patients with solid tumours; 28 patients with solid tumours that were not melanoma and 156 patients with melanoma. The initial phase of the trial established the dose for future later-stage clinical trials as 150 mg of dabrafenib given twice daily. The most common grade 2 and above adverse events were cutaneous squamous-cell carcinoma or keratoacanthoma, fatigue and pyrexia.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Falchook, G. S. et al. Dabrafenib in patients with melanoma, untreated brain metastases, and other solid tumours: a phase 1 dose-escalation trial. Lancet 379, 1893–1901 (2012)

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  1. Rebecca Kirk
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Kirk, R. New options for melanoma?. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 9, 368 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2012.95

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2012.95

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