Details of skin toxicities with targeted drugs in melanoma

Source: www.pharmacist.com, August 2015

Although many different skin reactions to melanoma drugs are labeled as a “rash," differentiating them could improve treatment. A report published online July 22 in <i>JAMA Dermatology</i> described the cutaneous toxicity seen with BRAF and MEK inhibitors used to treat metastatic melanoma.
Although many different skin reactions to melanoma drugs are labeled as a “rash," differentiating them could improve treatment. A report published online July 22 in JAMA Dermatology described the cutaneous toxicity seen with BRAF and MEK inhibitors used to treat metastatic melanoma. “Unless we make proper dermatological diagnoses, we won’t be able to manage the different conditions hidden in the word rash, and treatments are going to be inadequate," says senior author Pablo Fernandez-Peñas, MD, PhD, professor of dermatology at the University of Sydney. The study assessed cutaneous toxic effects in patients with unresectable stage IIIC and IV melanoma. Of these patients, 36 received the BRAF inhibitor monotherapy vemurafenib (Zelboraf—Roche), 119 received dabrafenib (Tafinlar—Novartis), and 30 received a CombiDT combination of dabrafenib plus the MEK inhibitor trametinib (Mekinist—Novartis). With monotherapy, verrucous keratosis lesions appeared as early as 7 days after the start of treatment. No combination patients experienced verrucous keratosis, Grover disease, or cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, but folliculitis was more common with the combination therapy.