New Hope for those Suffering from Melanoma

A recent study is giving hope to patients with one of the most lethal forms of skin cancer. Melanoma, which is thought to be caused by too much sun exposure, kills nearly 9,000 Americans each year. Doctors have found that patients carry a gene that actually encourages the cancer to grow and that the new experimental drug disrupts this gene giving the patients more time. While the new pill will not cure melanoma the hope is that is can keep patients alive for years treating the cancer like they would a chronic disease. The treatment is actually so new that no name has been given for the drug yet.

The majority of the patients who took part in the study (81%) saw their cancerous tumors shrink. For those that it did help, the drug kept the melanoma in check for an average of seven months according to Dr. Keith Flaherty, the lead author for the study. The new drug is only effective for those patients that have a mutation in a gene called BRAF, which accounts for about 50% of all melanoma patients.

Shirley Chance is suffering from advanced melanoma and went on the experimental drug after her outlook was grim after radiation treatments. He progress has been so good that her cancer actually went into remission, which enabled her to experience the birth of her grandson. If future testing continues to show promising results those involved in the study hope the treatment may be available on the market in two years.