UCLA Study Shows Keytruda Combination Therapy Limits Progress of Advanced Melanoma

Source: BioSpace, June 2019

A team of researchers from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) may have found a combination treatment for a type of advanced melanoma. The researchers combined a checkpoint inhibitor and two target therapies to extend the lives of patients.

The researchers combined Merck’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) with dabrafenib and trametinib, two BRAF inhibitors as a front-line treatment for the disease. UCLA reported that the combination treatment shows promise in progression-free survival for patients with a type of melanoma that contains a potent gene mutation, BRAF V600E. In addition to the efficacy, UCLA said the triple combination did not cause any debilitating side effects. The team of researchers published the results of a Phase I and Phase II trial in the journal Nature Medicine.