Cited: CNN

Skin cancer is a growing problem all over, but especially in the U.S. with so many people taking to the sunnier aspects of life. As outdoor activities pick up, whether simply lying in the breeze, or enjoying outdoor activities like golf, fishing, hiking, boating, or biking, to name just a few, more and more people are out in the sun. And from what the scientific community tells us, the sun is stronger and stronger every year, at least the part that reaches Earthlings, and therefore being out in the sun poses ever greater risk of contracting skin cancer.

The FDA today approved and new drug for skin cancer called Erivedge, which is for the treatment of basal cell carcinoma or BCC, the most common form of skin cancer. The drug was approved though a fast track process at the FDA called the priority review program, which can get drugs deemed of critical benefit, reviewed and on the market in just six months.

The drug is limited in its application to those patients not being treated with radiation, surgery, or for those whose cancer has already spread.  The drug is most effective on BCC and is said to cut off a pathway for growth in most basal cell cancers.

This is the first FDA approved medicine for the treatment of this type of skin cancer. It comes in the form of a pill that patients take once a day.

The downside of the drug, known as a pathway inhibitor, is that the effects of the drug on the tumors are not as long lasting as other treatments but researchers are still working on making these drugs as effective as other treatments such as chemotherapy. Other side effects that have been exhibited by some patients treated with Erivedge are muscle spasms, hair loss, weight loss, changes in their sense of taste, and with pregnant women, the risk of birth defects.

My take:

Skin cancer is getting to be more and more of a problem. I can’t tell you how many people I know that have died from this seemingly harmless disease, to those that are being treated in the hopes that it doesn’t spread. I hope that this drug can indeed do what they say and that eventually they will find a way to completely eradicate this disease. Otherwise, we’ll just have to stay indoors and look at the lovely day from behind our windows.