Introduction
Encorafenib (trade name: Braftovi) has been approved in Germany since June 2020 for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (bowel cancer) in adults when combined with the drug cetuximab. This combination is an option for treating metastatic colorectal cancer in adults who have a mutated protein in the cancer tissue (BRAF V600E mutation) and have already received systemic treatment.
Colorectal cancer almost always develops from a particular kind of polyp in the intestine (bowel), known as an adenoma. These are non-cancerous (benign) growths in the mucous membrane of the bowel. Most adenomas remain small and are not dangerous. Only few of them change and become cancerous (malignant). Although the small intestine is quite a lot longer than the large intestine, bowel cancer almost always develops in the large intestine (colon) or the rectum. These types of cancer are also called colorectal carcinoma.
Bowel cancer often doesn’t cause any symptoms at first, so it may remain unnoticed for a while. In advanced metastatic bowel cancer, the tumor has spread to other parts of the body and complete recovery is generally no longer possible.
Encorafenib is supposed to inhibit the mutated protein in order to slow down the growth of the cancer.
