FDA Approved New Treatment for Most Common Type of Skin Cancer

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Jan 31,2012

Erivedge (vismodegib) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat adult patients with basal cell carcinoma, the most common type of skin cancer. The drug is intended for use in patients with locally advanced basal cell cancer who are not candidates for surgery or radiation and for patients whose cancer has spread to other parts of the body (metastatic).

Erivedge, reviewed under the agency’s priority review program, is the first FDA-approved drug for metastatic basal cell carcinoma.  Erivedge was reviewed under the FDA’s priority review program that provides for an expedited six-month review of drugs that may offer major advances in treatment. The drug is being approved ahead of the March 8, 2012, prescription user fee goal date.

Basal cell carcinoma is generally a slow growing and painless form of skin cancer that starts in the top layer of the skin (epidermis). The cancer develops on areas of skin that are regularly exposed to sunlight or other ultraviolet radiation.

Erivedge is a pill taken once a day and works by inhibiting the Hedgehog pathway, a pathway that is active in most basal cell cancers and only a few normal tissues, such as hair follicles. Read the rest of this entry »


Pouring at least one glass of milk each day could not only boost your intake of much-needed key nutrients, but it could also positively impact your brain and mental performance, according to a recent study in the International Dairy Journal.(1)

Researchers found that adults with higher intakes of milk and milk products scored significantly higher on memory and other brain function tests than those who drank little to no milk.  Milk drinkers were five times less likely to “fail” the test, compared to non milk drinkers.

Researchers at the University of Maine put more than 900 men and women ages 23 to 98 through a series of brain tests – including visual-spatial, verbal and working memory tests – and tracked the milk consumption habits of the participants. In the series of eight different measures of mental performance, regardless of age and through all tests, those who drank at least one glass of milk each day had an advantage. The highest scores for all eight outcomes were observed for those with the highest intakes of milk and milk products compared to those with low and infrequent milk intakes. The benefits persisted even after controlling for other factors that can affect brain health, including cardiovascular health and other lifestyle and diet factors. In fact, milk drinkers tended to have healthier diets overall, but there was something about milk intake specifically that offered the brain health advantage, according to the researchers. Read the rest of this entry »


Walgreens and JDRF announced that Walgreens community-based programs helped raise more than $1.4 million in 2011 for JDRF causes. The year marked the 20th anniversary of Walgreens’ partnership with JDRF to raise funds for research to put an end to the disease that affects as many as 3 million Americans.

During back-to-school season throughout the month of August, as part of the Walgreens Way to Well Commitment, customers at more than 7,500 Walgreens stores could make donations of $1 or more at checkout. This effort alone raised more than $1.4 million for JDRF. Through Walgreens’ Crayola Campaign, $1 from every Crayola Crayon 64-pack purchased at Walgreens in August benefited JDRF, raising an additional $20,000 for the charity.

“Walgreens is proud to support JDRF and we’re thankful to our customers and employees who have helped raise more than $18 million toward type 1 diabetes efforts over the past 20 years,” said John Gremer, director of community affairs for Walgreens. “Through the Walgreens Way to Well Commitment™, we aim to help improve people’s everyday health through education and early detection of today’s leading diseases—cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.” Read the rest of this entry »


A miniature, battery-free, wireless, cardiac implant being developed by a U-M researcher and the Ann Arbor company Integrated Sensing Systems, Inc. (ISSYS), has received important funding that could get it to patients more quickly.

A $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will help a research team, led by Martin Bocks, M.D., and ISSYS, Inc., to complete the final preclinical testing required before seeking approval under Food and Drug Administration’s Humanitarian Device Exemption pathway.  Bocks is a pediatric cardiologist at the University of Michigan Congenital Heart Center and the U-M C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

“We are extremely excited to continue working with ISSYS to develop a wireless, implantable pressure sensor for our patients with complex forms of congenital heart disease,” says Bocks, the project’s medical principal investigator. Read the rest of this entry »


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