medwireNews: An updated analysis of the phase III COLUMBUS trial adds to the evidence supporting a combination of the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib and the MEK inhibitor binimetinib in patients with advanced BRAF V600-mutant melanoma.
Presenting the findings at the ASCO Annual Meeting 2018, Reinhard Dummer (University Hospital Zürich, Switzerland) explained that the combination previously showed a “clear advantage” with regard to progression-free survival relative to vemurafenib.
And now – with a further 18 months of follow-up – the investigators have also found an OS benefit with encorafenib–binimetinib, he told the audience in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Specifically, median OS was 33.6 months for the 192 patients who were randomly allocated to receive encorafenib 450 mg daily plus binimetinib 45 mg twice daily, whereas it was 16.9 months for the 191 participants given vemurafenib 960 mg twice a day. This equated to a significant 39% reduction in the risk for death with the combination.
OS with encorafenib–binimetinib was also longer than that with single-agent encorafenib 300 mg/day (n=194; median 23.5 months), an effect Dummer described as a “clear trend for benefit” with the duo, although the difference is not yet statistically significant.
He concluded that the combination provides “a new efficacy benchmark for targeted therapy” and is a promising treatment option for these patients.
In a comment to medwireNews, medical oncologist Eva Muñoz Couselo (Vall d'Hebron Hospital, Barcelona, Spain) described the results as “amazing.”
She believes that patients with BRAF-mutated melanoma now have “another effective option” in addition to previously approved treatments – one that shows “a clear benefit in overall survival.”
medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare. © 2018 Springer Healthcare part of the Springer Nature group
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