Vemurafenib: a guide to its use in unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

Oral vemurafenib (Zelboraf(®)) is a first-in-class, small molecule BRAF(V600E) inhibitor indicated for the treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma in BRAF(V600) mutation-positive patients (EU) or BRAF(V600E) mutation-positive patients (USA). Compared with intravenous dacarbazine, vemurafenib significantly improved overall survival and progression-free survival in patients with unresectable, previously untreated, BRAF(V600E) mutation-positive, stage IIIC or IV melanoma. Oral vemurafenib was generally well tolerated, with cutaneous adverse events among the most commonly occurring adverse events.