New Melanoma Drug

Trials of melanoma drug candidate said to be yielding "impressive" results.
In the second of three articles, the New York Times (2/23, A1, Harmon) reports on the trials for PLX4032, a genetically targeted drug for melanoma patients, in a front-page story. Dr. Keith Flaherty, University of Pennsylvania oncologist, sees "impressive" results in the Phase 1 trial, and sought FDA approval for a Phase 2 trial. "The trial of PLX4032 offers a glimpse at how doctors, patients and drug developers navigate a medical frontier as more drugs tailored to the genetic profile of a cancer are being widely tested on humans for the first time," according to the Times. In the trials, researchers find side effects at the 1,120-milligram dose, but at lower doses, patients seem to be improving.