More Drugs to Help BRAF Melanoma Patients

Two new GSK oral oncology treatments, BRAF-inhibitor Tafinlar® (dabrafenib) capsules and the first MEK-inhibitor Mekinist™ (trametinib) tablets, approved by FDA as single-agent therapies.

Glaxo Wins FDA Approval for Two Targeted Skin Cancer Drugs "The Food and Drug Administration today approved Tafinlar and Mekinist for patients with melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, that has spread or can’t be surgically removed. The drugs are aimed at patients who have certain gene mutations that need to be detected using a diagnostic test made by Marcy L’Etoile, France-based BioMerieux (BIM), which the FDA also cleared."

"Tafinlar may produce $279 million in sales in 2016 while Mekinist may generate $343 million, according to the average of eight analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg."

A relatively small, unmet need marginally less unmet: BRAF, unresectable, very late stage. A small addressable market still desperately in need of better solutions than these two drugs.

dabrafenib (TAFINLAR)