According to the American Cancer Society, in the United States alone, an estimated 104,960 people will be diagnosed with skin cancer every year. While melanoma only makes up around one percent of all cancer diagnoses, it accounts for a large majority of skin cancer deaths. Skin cancer is a health crisis not just nationwide but worldwide, and as we learn more about how skin cancer behaves and how to prevent it, more potentially life-saving developments are made. Most recently, the NHS England is taking big strides in developing a skin cancer vaccine, giving select skin cancer patients early access to what could be a life-changing vaccination.
NHS England Spearheads Major Skin Cancer Vaccine Trial
Imagine a world where sun protection is not the only way to prevent skin cancer. Thanks to a revolutionary trial in England, that world could one day be a reality. The vaccine comes in a needle-free injection (given for up to two years) that uses highly pressurized streams of liquid to penetrate the vaccine beneath the skin to improve the immune system’s response to skin cancer by attacking cancer cells and preventing resurfacing.
This potentially life-saving skin cancer vaccine is not the first milestone trial on the other side of the pond. The trial, known now as SCOPE, is an expansion of an existing program that offered early access to vaccine trials for bowel cancer. As Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says, the continued skin cancer vaccine research done by the NHS is “nothing short of life-saving.” SCOPE is now in its second phase and plans to recruit more advanced skin cancer patients by October, potentially fast-tracking the path to a skin cancer vaccine.
