Binimetinib

Binimetinib is an oral cancer drug sold under the brand name Mektovi that selectively inhibits MEK, a kinase at the center of the MAPK signaling pathway that many cancers rely on for growth. By binding to and blocking MEK1 and MEK2, it prevents growth factor signals from driving cell division. Array BioPharma developed binimetinib, later taken forward by Pfizer, and the United States Food and Drug Administration approved it in June 2018 for use together with encorafenib against unresectable or metastatic melanoma carrying a BRAF V600E or V600K mutation. The same combination gained a further FDA approval in October 2023 for metastatic non small cell lung cancer carrying a BRAF V600E mutation. Binimetinib is taken by mouth, and because MEK sits downstream of BRAF in the same pathway, pairing the two drugs blocks the cancer signal at two points at once, which has been shown to slow resistance compared with a BRAF inhibitor alone.