MEK Inhibitor News and Research

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Treatment for skin cancer could be more effective if combined with arthritis drug

Treatment for the most deadly form of skin cancer could be more effective if combined with a well-known drug for rheumatoid arthritis, new research has shown.

19 Dec 2017

Combination therapy found to be effective adjuvant treatment option in melanoma patients

Combination targeted adjuvant therapy with dabrafenib and trametinib doubles relapse-free survival in patients with stage III BRAF-mutant melanoma, according to late-breaking results from the COMBI-AD trial presented today at the ESMO 2017 Congress in Madrid and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

11 Sep 2017

Combination therapy shows potential for effective treatment of RAS-mutant cancers

A study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has shown promise for effective treatment of therapy-resistant cancers caused by a mutation of the RAS gene found in many cancers.

2 Jun 2017

KRAS ‘imbalances’ that emerge over time may influence cancer treatment response

Choosing among cancer treatments increasingly involves determining whether tumor cells harbor specific, mutated "oncogenes" that drive abnormal growth and that may also be especially vulnerable or resistant to particular drugs.

28 Feb 2017

Scientists discover how MEK inhibitor boosts antitumor activity and slows cancer progression

Understanding the effects of certain targeted therapies on antitumor immunity is necessary to design combined interventions for more effective cancer treatment.

1 Nov 2016

Researchers identify existing drugs that appear to prevent aggressive subtype of pediatric brain tumors

More than 4,000 children and teens are diagnosed with brain cancer each year and the disease kills more children than any other cancer.

27 Oct 2016

Researchers report high response rate with single drug in phase I/II trial of paediatric brain cancer

A high response rate with a single drug in a phase I/II trial of paediatric brain tumour has set the stage for combination therapy with higher response and lower toxicity, researchers reported at the ESMO 2016 Congress in Copenhagen.

7 Oct 2016

Immune and targeted therapies may be beneficial in patients with melanoma brain metastases

Brain metastases are one of the most common complications of advanced melanoma, requiring multidisciplinary management.

21 Sep 2016

Researcher identifies mechanisms that may cause resistance to BRAF inhibitor

BRAF mutation occurs in between 40% and 50% of metastasising melanomas (skin cancers), boosting tumour growth.

29 Aug 2016

Breakthrough in cancer cell screening advances personalised treatment of childhood leukaemia

Researchers at Newcastle University have been able to accurately predict how children whose cancer returns after treatment for leukaemia are likely to respond to further treatment.

26 Aug 2016

Targeted therapies suppress T cell activity that could actually help fight tumors

In many cases, targeted therapies for cancer are preferred as treatments over chemotherapy and surgery because they attack and kill cancer cells with specific tumor-promoting mutations while sparing healthy, normal cells that do not express these mutations.

23 Mar 2016

Wistar Institute scientists use revolutionary method to block melanoma progression

Melanoma patients who receive treatment with targeted therapies experience an initial response that feels like a cure, but that early excitement is quickly dampened when patients relapse as their cancers find alternative pathways in our cells to grow and spread. With melanoma so good at escaping targeted treatments, there's a dire need to halt these cancers in their tracks to prolong good responses and promote longer, healthier lives.

11 Jan 2016

CU Cancer Center study reports 'robust antitumor activity' of TAK-733 drug in mouse models of colorectal cancer

A University of Colorado Cancer Center study recently published online ahead of print in the journal Oncotarget reports "robust antitumor activity" of the drug TAK-733 in cells and mouse models of colorectal cancer.

14 Oct 2015

2-year advanced melanoma survival benefit with dabrafenib, trametinib combination

Updated results from the COMBI-v trial show significantly improved overall and progression-free survival with first-line dabrafenib plus trametinib compared with vemurafenib in patients with advanced melanoma.

7 Oct 2015

Clinical trial data from Array BioPharma's binimetinib and encorafenib presented at ECC 2015

Clinical trial results from Array BioPharma's wholly-owned MEK inhibitor, binimetinib, and BRAF inhibitor, encorafenib, were presented this weekend at the European Society of Medical Oncology's annual European Cancer Conference (ECC). At the meeting, preliminary data were shared from both a Phase 2 combination trial of binimetinib and encorafenib in BRAF-mutant melanoma patients (LOGIC2) and a Phase 1b/2 combination trial of binimetinib and ribociclib (Novartis, LEE011), a CDK4/6 inhibitor in NRAS-mutant melanoma patients.

28 Sep 2015

Combination of two targeted therapies increases survival in advanced melanoma

Latest results from a trial of a combination of two targeted therapies (dabrafenib and trametinib) to treat advanced melanoma have shown that patients are living significantly longer on the combined therapy than patients treated with another drug, vemurafenib, when used alone.

28 Sep 2015

Aeterna Zentaris selects optimized Erk inhibitor molecule for further development

Aeterna Zentaris Inc. today announced it has selected an optimized Erk inhibitor molecule for development, thus achieving another important milestone in the development of a new class of potential cancer therapies.

29 Jul 2015

Phase 3 SUMIT study: Selumetinib fails to meet primary endpoint in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma

AstraZeneca today announced that the Phase 3 SUMIT study of selumetinib in combination with dacarbazine for the treatment of patients with metastatic uveal melanoma did not meet its primary endpoint of progression free survival. This combination therapy showed an adverse event profile generally consistent with current knowledge of the safety profiles of dacarbazine and selumetinib.

23 Jul 2015

Study may lead to better treatments for children with neuroblastoma

Researchers studying the pediatric cancer neuroblastoma have detailed how cancer-driving mutations evolve during chemotherapy, and they hope to exploit this knowledge to design better treatments for children.

30 Jun 2015

UNC Lineberger scientists contribute to better understanding of genetic mutations in melanoma

UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers have significantly contributed to a better understanding of the genetic alterations found in cutaneous melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer, as part of a multi-institution, international effort of The Cancer Genome Atlas.

19 Jun 2015