Dabrafenib plus trametinib is the first well-tolerated systemic treatment regimen to demonstrate clinical efficacy in patients with BRAFV600E-mutated anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC), according to an article published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1

Patients with ATC have a very poor prognosis and are left with few systemic therapy options. For this cohort of a larger phase 2 study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02034110), researchers analyzed the outcomes of 16 patients with BRAFV600E-mutated ATC and administered dabrafenib 150 mg twice daily and trametinib 2 mg once daily.


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All enrolled patients previously received radiation therapy and/or surgery; 6 patients progressed after prior systemic therapy.

After a median follow-up of 47 weeks, the overall response rate was 69% (11 of 16; 95% CI, 41%-89%), and 7 patients have ongoing responses. Results for median duration of response, overall survival, and progression-free survival were not evaluable, but had 12-month estimates of 90%, 80%, and 79%, respectively.

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The most frequently reported adverse events across all cohorts of the study included fatigue, pyrexia, and nausea.

The authors added that these “data indicate that tumor mutation screening should be performed for patients with ATC as it has the potential to transform outcomes for these patients.”

Reference

  1. Subbiah V, Kreitman RJ, Wainberg ZA, et al. Dabrafenib and trametinib treatment in patients with locally advanced or metastatic BRAF V600–mutant anaplastic thyroid cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2017 Oct 26. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2017.73.6785 [Epub ahead of print]