New skin cancer drug for Jersey

Thursday 25 September 2014

A new skin cancer drug that health officials say can have a “rapid positive effect” on some melanoma patients will be used in Jersey where skin cancer is twice as common as the UK.

The rate of skin cancer is twice as high in Jersey for men and women as it is in the UK, and mortality rates are slightly above UK figures.

The Health department have confirmed that the new drug – called dabrafenib – which has been approved by drug experts at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which tests drugs before they can be used on patients, and that as long as the final guidance doesn’t change, it will be available here too.

Jersey’s Public Health department have underlined their recent messages about preventing skin cancer by taking care in the sun.

They said: “While new treatments become available and should help those who have been diagnosed with skin cancer, we continue to urge all Islanders to take measures to prevent sun-related skin damage, which so often leads to skin cancer.”

Professor Carole Longson, the director of the Centre for Health Technology Evaluation at NICE, said that dabrafenib – also known as tafinlar was the latest in a string of drugs to help people with skin cancer.

She said: “For a long time, the treatments available for skin cancer which has spread have been very limited. However, in recent years, a number of breakthrough treatments that can potentially significantly improve the prognosis for some people with malignant melanoma have become available.

“Drugs like dabrafenib are also thought to have very rapid positive effect for patients, even in those who are very unwell or bed-ridden. In some cases, it has enabled people to resume everyday activities.”