The potential benefit of encorafenib plus cetuximab with chemotherapy compared with standard of care in people with BRAF V600E-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer in the BREAKWATER study: a plain language summary

Abstract

What is this summary about?BRAF V600E-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer is difficult to treat as people often do not respond to standard of care treatment and their cancer gets worse. The BREAKWATER study looked at whether encorafenib plus cetuximab with mFOLFOX6 was a better treatment than standard of care to treat this disease.What were the results?More participants in the encorafenib plus cetuximab with mFOLFOX6 group had their tumor shrink after treatment than those in the standard of care group (61% versus 40%). Participants in the encorafenib plus cetuximab and mFOLFOX6 group might live longer after starting treatment than those in the standard of care group. The side effects reported were expected by researchers.What do the results mean?Encorafenib plus cetuximab and mFOLFOX6 is the new standard of care for this cancer.