Do You Want to Chase Melanoma or Cure Cancer?

Philip R. Cohen, MD

Dr. Cohen is from the University of Houston Health Center, Texas; the Department of Dermatology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston; and the Department of Dermatology, University of Texas Medical School, Houston.

Dr. Cohen reports no conflicts of interest in relation to this post.

The February 2012 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (2012;366:707-714) featured an original article that presented the results of a multicenter phase 2 clinical trial of vemurafenib (N=132). More than 50% of patients with previously treated BRAF V600–mutant metastatic melanoma achieved vemurafenib-induced clinical responses. In addition, the investigators demonstrated that the median overall survival was approximately 16 months.