CR With Dabrafenib/Trametinib Linked to Long-Term Survival in BRAF+ Melanoma

Source: OncLive, December 2019

Patients with unresectable or metastatic BRAF V600-mutant melanoma who achieve a complete response (CR) to dabrafenib (Tafinlar) plus trametinib (Mekinist) are more likely to have improved survival outcomes at 5 years, according to a pooled analysis of data from the phase III COMBI-d and COMBI-v studies.¹

Patients who have CR are more likely to live for a long time and less likely to progress, are more likely to have low-volume disease, and are more likely to have normal LDH at baseline, said study co-author Georgina V. Long, MBBS, PhD, co-medical director of the Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) and chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Translational Research at MIA and Royal North Shore Hospital.

“In the pooled analysis of the COMBI-v and COMBI-d studies, 50% of those complete responders had not progressed at 5 years. Over 70% of the complete responders were alive at 5 years,” she said during an interview at the 16th International Congress of the Society for Melanoma Research. The data were presented in a poster at the meeting.