A new drug has been shown to be effective in treating and preventing the most common cancer in the United States: basal cell carcinoma skin cancer, according to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine to be published June 7. The drug, vismodegib (trade name: Erivedge), was tested in a clinical trial in patients with Gorlin syndrome, a rare disease in which individuals have tens to hundreds of disfiguring basal cell carcinoma tumors. The findings are being released in conjunction with two other papers in the same journal issue that show the effectiveness of vismodegib in treating BCCs that are advanced or metastatic. All three articles include authors from the Stanford University School of Medicine.
