Professor Alan Ashworth, chief executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, comments on the announcement that vemurafenib (Zelboraf) has been recommended by NICE for NHS patients with advanced malignant melanoma and a mutated BRAF gene.

Research at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) underpinned the development of Zelboraf, after we found the mutated BRAF gene drives cancer progression in malignant melanoma. Zelboraf has been designed to block this cancer-causing form of the BRAF gene and clinical trials led in the UK by the ICR’s partner hospital, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, showed it could extend life for patients with the BRAF gene mutation.

Professor Ashworth said: “We are delighted that Zelboraf, which The Institute of Cancer Research helped to make possible, is now to become available on the NHS. It represents a great stride forward in the treatment of advanced malignant melanoma, and is a brilliant example of what new-generation targeted cancer therapies can achieve.

“Zelboraf validates the importance of research into the fundamental causes of cancer, since it works by blocking a very specific mutant molecule that fuels the growth and spread of melanomas. It can take time to move research from the laboratory into the clinic, but Zelboraf today becomes the latest in a string of targeted cancer therapies that will deliver real benefits for NHS patients.”

Source: ICR