Melanoma - A Closer Look
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. More than 1 million skin cancers are diagnosed annually and one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime. More than 90% of all skin cancers are caused by sun exposure and a person's risk for skin cancer doubles if he or she has had five or more sunburns. Melanoma is a type of skin cancer. It is a malignant tumor that originates in melanocyees, the cells that produce the pigment melanin that colors our skin, hair and eyes.Metastatic melanoma, the most deadly form of all skin cancers because it has spread to other parts of the body, continues to frustrate the medical research community. Unlike other skin cancers in early stages, there is no known cure for metastatic melanoma once it reaches Stage IV of development. During Stage III and Stage IV, the cancer is considered to be metastatic disease. There is still hope for patients with Stage III melanoma, however, those who have reached Stage IV are usually treated by controlling their pain and most likely will succomb to the disease.
It is the determination to reverse these daunting statistics that motivated the founder of Vaxco Pharmaceuticals, Raj Sadasivan, M.D. Ph.D., to develop and provide a treatment option that gives hope to patients who have otherwise been told there is no curative solution. Dr. Sadasivan has devoted his own time and resources to extensively study, research, and develop HCI001, a vaccine which stimulates the immune system to destroy melanoma cells. Vaxco Pharmaceuticals is hopeful HCI001 becomes the gold standard treatment for metastatic melanoma.
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