A new drug for melanoma has been shown to rapidly shrink malignant tumors in an early trial at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York.

Dr. Paul Chapman, the lead researcher, said that among 27 patients whom the experimental new drug was tested on, “19 showed a 30 percent or greater reduction in tumor size.”

Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer and develops in cells that produce melanin, the pigment that gives skin its color.

Chapman explained that, currently, the standard treatment for metastatic malignant melanoma is chemotherapy, which has only a 15 percent success rate. In his trial using PLX4032, over 70 percent of patients had a response to the drug.

Professor Alexander Eggermont, president of the European Cancer Organization, said, “Without reservation we can say this is a breakthrough in melanoma. We haven’t seen a major breakthrough in this disease in the last 40 years.”

(via CNN)