Closed captioning of: Skin cancer breakthrough?
>>>
fight against skin scan ser.temperature a study just released shows promising new resultses in the fight against skin scan ser. this could be revolutionary. what have you learned about it?
>>
indeed, this is very good news. and it's not very often that there is news this good. this this is a drug for advanceded melanoma. and up to now, there has been almost no treatment that works for advanced melanoma. it's fine if it's caught early surgically, but if it's spread through the body, it's usually a death sentence. bristol-myers squibb is marketing a drug and the day presented today at the
annual meeting
of
american society of clinical oncology
in chicago shows that on average, in people who had advanced melanoma, it allowed them to live h four months longer. that isn't sound like much, but it masks a much bigger picture. 20 for 20% to 30% of the people, the cancer shrank dramatically. melanoma kills 9,000 americans every year and if there's a drug that can help 20 force 30% of those people, it's a really
big deal
.
>>
and if they can figure out what's workinrce 30% of those people, it's a really
big deal
.
>>
and if they can figure out what's working but how about adverse reactions?
>>
there are serious adverse reactions. it can set off auto immune diseases. that's not good, but when doctors treat those diseases, the drug still has the anti-cancer activity. so the
side effects
can be managed even hoe they though they can be serious. the people in the study were very advanced melanoma. and doctors have a big study under way now to see if they give the drug earlier in the disease it can do better. so the figures might go higher. so this h could be the beginning of truly a revolution in treatment of advanced melanoma.
>>
i'm curious where
skin cancer
is in terms of if it's on the rise or lowering. because there's so much evidence out there about the use of sunscreens and lots of education these days.
>>
skin cancer
has been on the rise dramatically. it's one of the fastest growing cancers of all. and it usually strikes people at fairly young age. 30s, 40s and 50s. the sun is certainly the most important variable factor in terms of what your risk is for melanoma. so having a treatment at this point is extraordinarily important. this news could not be better for the people who have been treating this for years and had nothing to offer. at least now for this 20% or 30%, there's a powerful new drug.
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