| Summary: | The development and regulatory approval of vemurafenib and dabrafenib for metastatic melanoma patients with activating BRAF mutations has demonstrated that personalized targeted therapy strategies can provide significant clinical benefit in this highly aggressive disease. However, these agents are not beneficial in patients who do not have activating BRAF mutations, representing over half of all melanoma patients. Recent studies have demonstrated that melanomas have the highest rate of somatic mutations among the major cancers. Based on this information, additional personalized treatment strategies are now in various stages of clinical development and testing. These efforts are being guided by the lessons learned in the development of effective therapeutics for BRAF, as well as a growing understanding of the molecular heterogeneity and drivers of this disease.
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