About Melanoma
Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer and occurs in the pigment producing cells of the skin called the melanocytes. It is believed that the disease is caused by dysfunction in the mechanism of the regulation of these cells, and many of the investigational drugs for melanoma have targeted modification of these cellular interactions.
The incidence for melanoma is nearly doubling every 10-15 years. According to the American Cancer Society there will be approximately 60,000 new cases of melanoma diagnosed in the United States this year, and of this total 15% will be diagnosed as late stage metastatic melanoma.
Approximately 8,000 people will die this year of melanoma in the United States, and the existing pipeline for new melanoma drugs in late stage development is limited to fewer than 10 products, many of which have failed to meet primary endpoints in previous studies.