On Jan. 30, 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Genentech’s Erivedge (vismodegib) capsule, the first medicine for adults with advanced basal cell carcinoma. Erivedge is a first-in-class Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitor that helps shrink disfiguring or potentially life-threatening lesions in advanced skin cancer.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC), first described in 1827, is the most common form of skin cancer, accounting for approximately 80% of all skin malignancies. An estimated 2.8 million new cases of BCC were diagnosed each year in the U.S. (2012).