A patent review of RAF kinase inhibitors (2010–2018)

Introduction: RAF kinase inhibitors block and regulate RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK signaling, which is a key to tumor treatment. At present, although RAF kinase inhibitors have good efficacy, there are few such drugs with low toxicity, and thus, it is urgent to find novel RAF kinase inhibitors associated with higher activity and fewer adverse reactions. This review highlights the anti-tumor effects of several published RAF kinase inhibitors and might be helpful in providing new ideas for the development of novel drug candidates in the future.Areas covered: This article covers the pertinent literature published on RAF kinase inhibitors from 2010 to 2018, as well as the potential use of these compounds as therapeutics for cancer.Expert opinion: To date, many RAF kinase inhibitors with different structures have been studied, many of which have prominent inhibitory activities toward RAF kinase. Further, the specificity of these drugs offers hope for the targeted therapy of tumors. Although RAF kinase inhibition has achieved promising results for the treatment of many cancers, overcoming limitations associated with drug resistance and safety comprises a new direction for the optimization and improvement of RAF kinase inhibitors.