Two targeted drugs tried in three people with lung cancer
Original title: Clinical and Molecular Outcomes of Dabrafenib/Trametinib-Based Combination Therapy in Acquired BRAF V600E-Mutant NSCLC Following Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Resistance: A Preliminary Single-Center Retrospective Study.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was tested in people. That is the most reliable kind of research we share.
Doctors only looked back at the records of three people, so nothing is proven yet.
The short version
Three people took a pair of targeted drugs after their first drug stopped working, and the results were very mixed.
What was studied. Doctors at one hospital looked back at patient records. Three people with lung cancer had a gene change called BRAF: A gene in a pathway that tells cells to divide. Some tumors carry a change in it. There are drugs made to target that change, so your team may test for it. See the glossary show up after their first targeted drug stopped working. Each was then given the drugs dabrafenib and trametinib.
What they found. The time before the cancer grew again was 2.2 months, 7.1 months, and 14.5 months. Side effects were not the same from person to person. They included fever, breaks in treatment, blood count problems, and one person who got worse fast. Two of the people had cancer spots in the brain at the start, and scans showed those spots stayed in check during the follow up.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: Doctors may think about this drug pair for a few people in this same spot. But the study was far too small to say how well it works or how safe it is. Anyone curious should ask their own care team.
What it doesn't mean: This does not mean the drug pair works for most people. Doctors only read back through three patient charts at one hospital. There was no planned trial and no comparison group. The results differed a lot, and some side effects were serious. This is not a cure, and it is not standard care for this situation. Much larger studies are needed first.
Source: PubMed, October 20, 2026 · Read the original
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