Dr. Dummer on Driver Mutations and Next Steps in Melanoma

Reinhard Dummer, MD, professor, Department of Dermatology, University of Zurich Hospital, discusses driver mutations and next steps in the treatment of patients with melanoma.

There are several melanoma subtypes based on driver mutations in the MAP kinase pathway. Most of them are mutated for BRAF, and while there are several medications for those types of mutations, there is a huge medical need for specific treatments of NRAS mutations, says Dummer.

The NEMO trial, which randomly assigned patients to receive the combination of the MEK inhibitor binimetinib and dacarbazine or dacarbazine alone, demonstrated binimetinib's potential as an alternative treatment option for patients with NRAS-mutant melanoma. This is a good first step in this setting, says Dummer, but there is certainly room for improved outcomes in future studies.