Scientists are hoping that pharma labels could soon be being printed for two new kinds of skin cancer treatments after trials proved successful.

The first, a drug called Ipilimumab, was found to give advanced malignant melanoma sufferers extra years of life, with one woman still alive five years after she first began taking it.

Meanwhile, the second, a pill named Vemurafenib, was found to give skin cancer patients a better chance of survival than traditional treatments, with 84 per cent of patients still alive after six months compared to 64 per cent on chemotherapy.

The findings were announced at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago and tests are now being carried out to see if the drugs work on other types of cancer.

It is hoped that if they are licensed, the treatments could be available to UK skin cancer patients in just a few months.

According to Cancer Research UK, malignant melanoma kills around 2,070 people in Britain each year.

Denny Bros Ltd, 07 June 2011