The US FDA has approved dabrafenib with trametinib for children aged 1 year or older who need systemic treatment for low-grade gliomas that have a BRAF V600E mutation. Dabrafenib/trametinib is the first systemic therapy approved for frontline treatment of low-grade, BRAF-mutated pediatric gliomas, the FDA said. Dabrafenib was given orally twice daily, and trametinib was given orally once daily. Children in the chemotherapy arm received a 10-week induction course followed by eight 6-week maintenance cycles.
Adverse effects: pyrexia (66%), rash (54%), headache (40%), vomiting (38%), musculoskeletal pain (36%), fatigue (31%), dry skin (31%), diarrhea (30%), nausea (26%), epistaxis and other bleeding events (25%), abdominal pain (24%), and dermatitis acneiform (23%). The more common grade 3 or 4 laboratory abnormalities were decreased neutrophil count (20%) and increases in alanine aminotransferase (3.1%) and aspartate aminotransferase levels (3.1%).