PhotoCure presents positive results from a European multicentre study of Metvix® PDT in skin cancer unsuitable to conventional treatment

PhotoCure has recently reported positive results of Metvix® photodynamic therapy (PDT) in patients with actinic keratosis (pre-cancerous condition) and basal cell carcinoma (skin cancer).

In this announcement we report a pivotal European multicentre study in patients with “high-risk” Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC). A group of patients with BCC is considered as “high-risk” because they are not suitable for conventional treatment such as ordinary surgery, plastic surgery, or radiation therapy. In “high risk” BCC lesions, conventional treatment may cause unacceptable side effects such as disfiguration and scarring. Therefore there is a strong medical need for an alternative treatment modality for “high-risk” BCC.

Nine clinical research centres in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, UK, Austria and Holland included 94 patients with “high-risk” BCC who received 2 or 4 treatments of Metvix® photodynamic therapy (PDT). Metvix® PDT cured 9 out of 10 patients with this type of skin cancer when examined 3 months after last treatment. The cosmetic outcome after Metvix® PDT was evaluated both by the investigator and the patients to be excellent and the treatment was tolerated well. The patients will be followed for 5 years after treatment

The co-ordinating investigator for the study, professor Olle Larkö at Sahlgrenska Hospital in Gothenburg comments that he is;- “very satisfied with the short term results of this study, and it will be extremely interesting to follow these patients in the future”.

”We are very happy to see that the complete clearance of these problematic lesions is so high, which should make Metvix® PDT an important treatment modality for these patients. The ease of re-treating the patients, if needed, with Metvix® PDT is considered as a further advantage”, says professor Vidar Hansson, President and CEO in PhotoCure.