Drugs in the News for Melanoma Treatment

The treatment of advanced melanoma has entered a new era due to the recent successes of the drugs listed below. These include 'targeted therapies' such as Zelboraf and GSK2118436 that attack molecular characteristics for melanoma growth and 'immunotherapies' such as Ipilimumab that help the immune system fight melanoma. These advances are also driving personalization of treatments for melanoma patients based on their cancer's molecular fingerprint.

Drug	Other names	Target	Manufacturer	Status
Gleevec	Imatinib	c-KIT	Novartis	Approved for Philadelphia chromosome positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CML), Kit (CD117) positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST)
GSK2118436	dabrafenib	BRAF	GlaxoSmithKline	In phase 3 trial for BRAF mutant patients with advanced melanoma and in phase 2 trial for BRAF mutant patients with brain metastases
Yervoy	Ipilimumab, MDX-010, MDX-101, BMS-734016	CTLA-4	Bristol-Myers Squibb, Medarex	Approved for metastatic or unresectable melanoma
Zelboraf	PLX4032, vemurafenib, RO5185426, RG7204	BRAF	Hoffmann-La Roche	Approved for melanoma patients with BRAF mutations

This list features only some of the drugs discussed in the Targeted Therapy Finder. Find drugs that may be relevant to you by providing information about your melanoma on the home page.