Drug Detail

Information about Selumetinib

Generic Name	Selumetinib
IND	AZD6244
Brand Name (US)
Manufacturer	Array Biopharma/AstraZeneca
Drug Type	MEK inhibitor
Delivery	Oral
Approval Status	Phase 2
Indications
Overall Strategy	Oncogenic Signal Path Based
Strategy	Block related tumor signal paths
Drug Category	NF1 GIST

Notes from ARRAY website:
ZD6244 (ARRY-142886) is a potent, selective MEK inhibitor that is orally active, that blocks signal transduction pathways implicated in cancer cell proliferation and survival. AZD6244 (ARRY-142886) has shown tumour suppressive activity in multiple pre-clinical models of human cancer including melanoma, pancreatic, colon, lung, and breast cancers.

About MEK Inhibition

MEK is a critical enzyme at the intersection of several biological pathways, which regulates cell proliferation and survival as part of the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway. Activation of the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway has been implicated in many cancers, including lung, pancreatic, colon, melanoma and thyroid cancer. MEK inhibition is an attractive anti-cancer strategy as it has the potential to block inappropriate signal transduction regardless of the upstream position of the oncogenic aberration.