Clinical outcomes of BRAF plus MEK inhibition in melanoma: A meta-analysis and systematic review

Source: MDLinx, September 2019

In melanoma patients, the efficacy and safety of two treatment regimens were compared: BRAF inhibition plus MEK inhibition combination therapy vs BRAF inhibition monotherapy, via this meta-analysis. Researchers analyzed 7 eligible randomized controlled trials including 3,146 patients. These studies were identified from PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library searched from January 2010 to January 2019. A significant improvement in overall survival, overall response rate, progression-free survival, and attenuation in deaths were all observed in correlation with combination therapy vs monotherapy. Also, the former resulted in less skin-related adverse events such as hyperkeratosis, cutaneous squamous-cell carcinoma, though caused a higher frequency of gastrointestinal events like nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. Overall, better survival outcomes resulted from doublet BRAF and MEK inhibition vs single-agent BRAF inhibition.