chemistry

Dabrafenib

Dabrafenib is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Dabrafenib rather than just read about it. In short: Dabrafenib, sold under the brand name Tafinlar among others, is an anti-cancer medication used for the treatment of cancers associated with a mutated version of the gene BRAF. Dabrafenib acts as an inhibitor of the associated enzyme B-Raf, which plays a role in the regulation of cell growth.

Key takeaways

Dabrafenib belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Dabrafenib to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Dabrafenib from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Dabrafenib, sold under the brand name Tafinlar among others, is an anti-cancer medication used for the treatment of cancers associated with a mutated version of the gene BRAF. Dabrafenib acts as an inhibitor of the associated enzyme B-Raf, which plays a role in the regulation of cell growth. The most common side effects include papilloma (warts), headache, nausea, vomiting, hyperkeratosis (thickening and toughening of the skin), hair loss, rash, joint pain, fever and tiredness. When taken in combination with trametinib, the most common side effects include fever, tiredness, nausea, chills, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, joint pain and rash. Dabrafenib was approved for medical use in the United States in May 2013, and in the European Union in August 2013.

Medical uses Dabrafenib is indicated as a single agent for the treatment of people with unresectable or metastatic melanoma with BRAF V600E mutation. Dabrafenib is indicated, in combination with trametinib, for BRAF V600E-positive unresectable or metastatic melanoma, metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, metastatic anaplastic thyroid cancer, and unresectable or metastatic solid tumors.

History Clinical trial data demonstrated that resistance to dabrafenib and other BRAF inhibitors occurs within six to seven months. To overcome this resistance, the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib was combined with the MEK inhibitor trametinib. In January 2014, the FDA approved this combination of dabrafenib and trametinib for BRAF V600E/K-mutant metastatic melanoma. In May 2018, the FDA approved the combination dabrafenib/trametinib as an adjuvant treatment for BRAF V600E-mutated, stage III melanoma after surgical resection based on the results of the COMBI-AD phase 3 study, making it the first oral chemotherapy regimen that prevents cancer relapse for node positive, BRAF-mutated melanoma.

Society and culture

Legal status

United States The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved dabrafenib as a single agent treatment for people with BRAF V600E mutation-positive advanced melanoma in May 2013.

European Union Dabrafenib was approved for use in the European Union in August 2013. In April 2017, the European Union approved the combination of dabrafenib with trametinib for BRAF V600-positive advanced or metastatic non small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In September 2023, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorization for the medicinal product Finlee, intended for the treatment of low- and high-grade glioma (LGG and HGG). The applicant for this medicinal product is Novartis Europharm Limited. Finlee was approved for medical use in the European Union in November 2023.

Brand names Dabrafenib is the international nonproprietary name. Dabrafenib is sold under the brand names Tafinlar and Finlee.

Research Dabrafenib has clinical activity with a manageable safety profile in clinical trials of phase I and II in patients with BRAF (V600)-mutated metastatic melanoma.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Dabrafenib

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Dabrafenib claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Dabrafenib before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Dabrafenib ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Dabrafenib

In research: Dabrafenib appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Dabrafenib in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Dabrafenib is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2,6-Difluorophenyl compounds, Aminopyrimidines, B-Raf inhibitors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Dabrafenib outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Dabrafenib in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Dabrafenib means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Dabrafenib out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Dabrafenib in simple terms?

Why does Dabrafenib matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Dabrafenib?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Dabrafenib.