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Oral Targeted Therapies and Central Nervous System (CNS) Metastases

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Abstract

The purpose of our review is to summarize the clinical activity of oral targeted agents against brain metastases. This includes BRAF inhibitors (dabrafenib and vemurafenib), human epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors (lapatinib, gefitinib, erlotinib, and afatinib), multi-kinase angiogenesis inhibitors (sorafenib, sunitinib, pazopanib, and vandetanib), and ALK/c-MET (crizotinib) and ALK/IGF-1 (ceritinib) inhibitors. Effective systemic therapies are needed for long-term benefit in brain metastases and documentation of intracranial activity for many therapies is poor. Our review provides a summary of the literature with pertinent data for clinicians. This is needed as subjects with brain metastases are often prevented from enrolling in clinical trials and investigations focused on systemic therapies for brain metastases are rare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacy Practice, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Michael P. Gabay, Scott M. Wirth, Joan M. Stachnik & Linda R. Bressler

  2. Pharmacy Services, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Colleen L. Overley & Katie E. Long

  3. Departments of Medicine and Neurology, University of Kentucky, Markey Cancer Center, 800 Rose Street, CC447, Lexington, KY, 40536-0093, USA

    John L. Villano

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  1. Michael P. Gabay
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MPG, SMW, JMS, CLO, KEL, LRB, and JLV declared no conflict of interest.

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Gabay, M.P., Wirth, S.M., Stachnik, J.M. et al. Oral Targeted Therapies and Central Nervous System (CNS) Metastases. CNS Drugs 29, 935–952 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40263-015-0283-6

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