New Advanced Basal Cell Carcinoma (Vismodegib) Clinic

Written by Dr Cathy Zhao
Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) are common skin cancers that are usually localised and treated with standard surgical excision or Mohs micrographic surgery, electrodessication and curettage, imiquimod, or 5-fluorouracil. Their growth is driven by mutations that lead to inappropriate Hedgehog signalling pathway. Very rarely, BCCs can become locally destructive and metastasise, becoming non-amenable to surgery.
Vismodegib is a new medication targeting the Hedgehog pathway approved by the Australian Medicare and included in the PBS in April 2017 for the treatment of advanced and metastatic BCCs. To gain approval for vismodegib, the patient would need to have at least one BCC that is unsuitable for surgery and radiotherapy, with a letter verifying this from a radiation oncologist.
Common side effects of vismodegib include lethargy, hair loss, muscle cramps and dysgeusia (changes in taste, usually decrease taste).
So far at Westmead Hospital, led by A/Prof Fernandez-Peñas, we have treated 8 patients with vismodegib. This is following the success of the STEVIE clinical trial for vismodegib that A/Prof Fernandez-Peñas led at the Skin & Cancer Foundation Australia which helped gaining vismodegib’s approval in Australia.
If you would like to refer a patient to us or may require any further information about vismodegib, please feel free to contact the Research Unit doctors on 02 8890 5686 or fax your referral to 02 8890 9673.