Mektovi / Braftovi

Hi Misty,

I’m sure folks who have been on that combo will be responding soon. For BRAF positive patients with melanoma, targeted therapy like the Mektovi/Braftovi combo you mention tend to work very rapidly for most patients. Though side effects vary from person to person, the most common side effects tend to be fever, rash, headaches, fatigue, and joint pain. Sun sensitivity can also be a problem so sun screen and physical protection from the sun are super important. Here is an article that gives more info: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/melanoma-skin-cancer/treating/targeted-therapy.html

Report any side effects to your doc as soon as you think you are experiencing them. They are often handled with an alternating drug scheduled, dosage adjustment and/or steroids. Sometimes a drug holiday is required. Here are a couple of reports on your particular combo if you are interested: https://chaoticallypreciselifeloveandmelanoma.blogspot.com/search?q=mektovi

Hope that helps. I wish you my best. Celeste

Hello Misty,

My husband has been on Mektovi / Braftovi targeted therapy since March, 25th of this year. Prior to that – he was having monthly Opdivo infusions for 10 months. He was diagnosed with Stage 3 Melanoma in February of 2018 and had a wide excsion on his back, with a positive sentinel node. He had 12 additional lymph nodes removed via axillary dissection and all nodes were negative. All was good until May of 2019 when a PET Scan showed melanoma recurrence in his back near the original site, as well as in his lungs with a small lesion on his liver moving him to Stage 4. He then started on Opdivo which slowed things down a bit, but stopped working for him. He tested as BRAF positive and his oncologist put him on the oral chemo combination of Mek/Braf in March. Primary side effects have been fever, fatigue and rash. His fevers for the first month or so were preceded by shaking chills. Over time, we found that if he took Tylenol as soon as the shaking started, the impact was less and fever was lower. The shaking shills have stopped for the most part after t20 months and he goes for days/weeks with no temp over 99.5 and we are managing the rash with OTC creams. His energy level has picked up a bit (we are almost 4 months in) and the results of his most recent scan were dramatic – all occurrences of melanoma have reduced in size significantly, with some almost gone. He is continuing on the medication and will have his next scan in September. I hope you have a good experience with the meds and that can manage the effects and get great results. Best of luck to you!

Sandy D

Hi Misty,

My dad is on this combo & finds his main side effect is fatigue. Especially after the larger dose. We have ended up swapping the larger dose of tablets to around 8pm in the evening so that when fatigue hits it’s over bed time & the smaller dose in the morning. (The oncologist suggested this)
He’s tolerated this well so far & been on enco/binni since April. Hope all goes well for you starting targeted therapy!
Amy

Hi Misty, I have been taking Mektovi/Braftovi since February 2019 with positive results and pretty minimal side effects. For me, it worked almost immediately — the handful of subcutaneous lumps that had clued me into my recurrence disappeared over the course of two weeks and scans after 4-6 weeks showed that my brain mets and lung mets had shrunk in half. Overall it stabilized the progress of the disease (and the symptoms associated with it) in a month or two. In my experience, the results are pretty amazing. I have been on it for pushing 15 months and stayed with the Braf/Mek combo through four cycles of Ipi/Nivo and follow up nivo. I understand from some of the literature that this length of taking Braf/Mek is a little out of the ordinary, since some people develop a resistance in 6 months or so. But I have not yet achieved NED and the side effects for me have been so mild that we have stuck with the treatment “just in case.” The worst of it has been spikes of fever that hit about once every few months — kind of out of the blue — and last no more than a day. I also experienced some minor skin rashes that topical lotions controlled effectively. (Unlike the more serious rashes I experienced with Ipi/Nivo.) For me, the combo was effective without significant adverse effects. Best of luck with your treatments.

Burton