Vemurafenib (marketed as Zelboraf) is a B-Raf enzyme inhibitor developed by Plexxikon (now part of the Daiichi Sankyo group) and Hoffmann–La Roche for the treatment of late-stage melanoma. The name "vemurafenib" comes from V600E mutated BRAF inhibition.
Vemurafenib received FDA approval for the treatment of late-stage melanoma on August 17, 2011, Health Canada approval on February 15, 2012 and on February 20, 2012, the European Commission approved vemurafenib as a monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with BRAF V600 mutation positive unresectable or metastatic melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer....
Mechanism : Vemurafenib has been shown to cause programmed cell death in melanoma cell lines. Vemurafenib interrupts the B-Raf/MEK step on the B-Raf/MEK/ERK pathway if the B-Raf has the common V600E mutation.
Vemurafenib only works in melanoma patients whose cancer has a V600E BRAF mutation (that is, at amino acid position number 600 on the B-Raf protein, the normal valine is replaced by glutamic acid). About 60% of melanomas have this mutation. It also has efficacy against the rarer BRAF V600K mutation. Melanoma cells without these mutations are not inhibited by vemurafenib; the drug paradoxically stimulates normal BRAF and may promote tumor growth in such cases.
