According to the American Cancer Society, basal cell carcinoma accounts for approximately 80% of all diagnosed non-melanoma skin cancers. Although the most common type of skin cancer, in its advanced stages, basal cell carcinoma has the potential to become disfiguring and life-threatening.
An international phase 2 study headed by Mayo Clinic led to the recent FDA approval of Erivedge (vismodegib), the first drug of its kind to help advanced basal cell carcinoma patients who have few treatment options. The study was published in the June 7 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study showed that vismodegib shrank advanced basal cell carcinoma tumors in 43% of patients with locally advanced disease and in 30% of patients with metastatic disease.
“This targeted therapy represents a new paradigm in cancer treatment,” says lead researcher Aleksandar Sekulic, MD, PhD, a dermatologist and cancer researcher at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Vismodegib can shrink a tumor by targeting a molecular signaling pathway that fuels the cancer cells and shuts it down, the lead researcher says.
“These findings are very exciting because we haven’t had any therapies before that worked to this degree for advanced basal cell carcinoma,” says Sekulic.
Source: Mayo Clinic.