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3 treatment settings, 3 with more than one named option. Each section lays out the options the standard of care names, what each is for, the trials behind them with their recorded results, the side effects and cautions on record, and questions to ask. Built from the cancer page's standard-of-care rows; nothing here is advice for your case.
Dabrafenib plus trametinib or encorafenib plus binimetinib (PHAROS); pembrolizumab with platinum doublet is an alternative, particularly with high PD-L1.
Dabrafenib plus trametinib is the BRAF-plus-MEK pill combination, approved for BRAF V600E lung cancer and, since 2022, for any solid tumour with that mutation.
Dabrafenib (Tafinlar) is a capsule that switches off the faulty BRAF protein driving some melanomas, lung, thyroid and other cancers. It is almost always paired with trametinib.
Trametinib (Mekinist) blocks MEK, the protein one step below BRAF in the growth-signal chain. Paired with dabrafenib it treats BRAF-mutant melanoma, lung, thyroid and other cancers, including brain tumours in children.
Encorafenib is a BRAF inhibitor that, with cetuximab and chemotherapy, became first-line standard for BRAF-mutant colorectal cancer in 2026.
Binimetinib is the MEK inhibitor partnered with encorafenib; blocking the next step in the same relay stops the tumour rerouting around the BRAF block.
Pembrolizumab is a PD-1 blocking antibody approved in more than 40 settings, from melanoma and lung cancer to the first tumour-agnostic approval for mismatch-repair-deficient tumours in 2017, and before and after surgery in triple-negative breast cancer. A subcutaneous form arrived in 2025, and it is the backbone partner for ADCs and personalised neoantigen vaccines.
Response rate 75% (treatment-naive, n=59) and 46% (previously treated, n=39); FDA approval October 2023.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Hypothyroidism (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 8% | - |
| Pneumonitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 3.4% | - |
| Colitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 1.7% | - |
| Hepatitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 0.7% | - |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Pembrolizumab plus platinum doublet, or the other BRAF plus MEK pair if the first was stopped for toxicity rather than progression.
Pembrolizumab is a PD-1 blocking antibody approved in more than 40 settings, from melanoma and lung cancer to the first tumour-agnostic approval for mismatch-repair-deficient tumours in 2017, and before and after surgery in triple-negative breast cancer. A subcutaneous form arrived in 2025, and it is the backbone partner for ADCs and personalised neoantigen vaccines.
Carboplatin is a platinum chemotherapy that crosslinks DNA; it is part of the standard pre-surgery regimen for triple-negative breast cancer.
Pemetrexed is the chemotherapy that, with a platinum drug, became the first approved treatment for mesothelioma in 2004, and is still the backbone today.
Encorafenib is a BRAF inhibitor that, with cetuximab and chemotherapy, became first-line standard for BRAF-mutant colorectal cancer in 2026.
Binimetinib is the MEK inhibitor partnered with encorafenib; blocking the next step in the same relay stops the tumour rerouting around the BRAF block.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Hypothyroidism (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 8% | - |
| Pneumonitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 3.4% | - |
| Colitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 1.7% | - |
| Hepatitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 0.7% | - |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Treated as driver-negative disease with chemoimmunotherapy; MEK or pan-RAF inhibitor trials.
Pembrolizumab is a PD-1 blocking antibody approved in more than 40 settings, from melanoma and lung cancer to the first tumour-agnostic approval for mismatch-repair-deficient tumours in 2017, and before and after surgery in triple-negative breast cancer. A subcutaneous form arrived in 2025, and it is the backbone partner for ADCs and personalised neoantigen vaccines.
Carboplatin is a platinum chemotherapy that crosslinks DNA; it is part of the standard pre-surgery regimen for triple-negative breast cancer.
Pemetrexed is the chemotherapy that, with a platinum drug, became the first approved treatment for mesothelioma in 2004, and is still the backbone today.
Trametinib (Mekinist) blocks MEK, the protein one step below BRAF in the growth-signal chain. Paired with dabrafenib it treats BRAF-mutant melanoma, lung, thyroid and other cancers, including brain tumours in children.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Hypothyroidism (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 8% | - |
| Pneumonitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 3.4% | - |
| Colitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 1.7% | - |
| Hepatitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 0.7% | - |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.