There have been no new treatments for the skin cancer melanoma since the 1970s. That is, until now. A new drug is available in Britain that is proving effective in treating the disease. In studies the chances of living for another year doubled for those taking the drug.
It is called ipilimumab, and it works by helping the body’s immune system to fight melanoma. While the drug has been approved by the European Medicine Agency, the NHS is still working out whether it will be a cost effective treatment. The cost of the entire treatment is around £75,000 and involves four separate injections. Patients can request the money for the treatment from the Cancer Drugs Fund.
Dr Paul Lorigan is a oncology lecturer at the Christie NHS Foundation. He has said that, “ipilimumab represents a real break though in patients suffering from skin cancer. It is the first drug to be available in the country for many decades and will extend patients’ lives significantly. After such slow progress, the drugs industry has finally made dome important steps forward.”
The rates of skin cancer in the UK are rising especially in the group the disease affects the most – young adults and teenagers. Nearly 12,000 people a year face a diagnosis of the most serious kind of the disease. Around a sixth of these people die within a few months as the tumours spread around the body.
Ipilimumab has shown promise as a drug with fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy. The final stages of the trial were conducted on patients who had already received some form of therapy. In the patients who didn’t take the drug only 25% survived the year, nearly 50% of those on the drug survived. Richard Clifton of cancer charity SKCIN has said, “this is excellent news.”
