Targeted Drug Combination Can Have Long-Lasting Results for Some With BRAF-Mutated Melanoma

Source: Cure Today, September 2019

For about half of patients with advanced melanoma, there is only one treatment choice: immunotherapy. But for those whose late-stage melanoma expresses a BRAF gene mutation, there’s another option – combinations of targeted drugs.

Figuring out which type of drug to take can be challenging for these patients and their doctors, but there are some rules of thumb that can guide them, said Dr. Adil Daud, co-director of melanoma clinical research at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center in San Francisco.

“It’s a controversial topic in our field, and there’s no easy way to decide,” he told CURE in an interview. However, he said, “We did a study in 2017 showing that the presence of liver metastases doesn’t give you a great response to immunotherapy.”