Skin cancer is on the rise in the United States due to overexposure to ultraviolet rays of the sun.
Farmers log countless hours working out in the sun, and are not exempt from the risk.
However, the FDA has granted accelerated approval for the first treatment for metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), a rare, aggressive form of skin cancer.
According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 1,600 people in the United States are diagnosed with MCC every year.
Bavencio has been approved for the treatment of people 12 years and older with MCC.
?While skin cancer is one of the most common cancers, patients with a rare form called Merkel cell cancer have not had an approved treatment option until now,? said Richard Pazdur, M.D., acting director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA?s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and director of the FDA?s Oncology Center of Excellence.
