A Study in RAF: On-Target Effects Can be Surprisingly Fickle
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Two independent research teams have shown that current RAF inchibitors, a class of experimental targeted cancer drugs, may only work well in patients with one particular mutation - in an enzyme called BRAF. In other people, the drugs can actually contribute to the growth of tumors. The findings echo develoments earlier in the decade with EGFr inhibitors, which proved to be harmful to some patients until the mechanism of action was worked out and their use subsequently restricted.