Phase I/II Clinical Trials: Protocol Development/Hypothesis Testing

Keith Flaherty, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, Massachusetts

Fellow summary authored by Caner Saygin, MD

Dr. Flaherty is an inspiring clinical investigator who shared his career path and how BRAF inhibitors were developed for the management of melanoma. In a large-scale histology agnostic sequencing study, BRAF mutations were detected in 50% of melanoma cases. Dr. Flaherty’s group took a special interest in this discovery and led the early phase and subsequent randomized studies to translate this discovery into an effective, actionable targeted therapy. We greatly appreciated Dr. Flaherty’s insights into drug development during this lecture and during our small group career development sessions.