New Treatment For Solar Keratoses Now Available In New Zealand
Picato® (ingenol mebutate) gel, a new innovative topical treatment was launched in New Zealand yesterday. Picato® gel
provides a short dosing duration for the treatment of solar keratoses (a very common skin condition).1 Solar keratoses
(sometimes referred to as sun spots) often present as rough, scaly patches predominantly on skin frequently exposed to
the sun, and can lead to non-melanoma skin cancer if not diagnosed and treated effectively.2,3 There are approximately
67,000 new cases of non-melanoma skin cancers in New Zealand each year.4
Picato® gel is a topical treatment that patients apply once a day for only two or three days, depending on the area of
the body being treated.1 Other topical treatments already available can require weeks or even months of therapy, which
patients can find difficult to adhere to.5,6,7
Picato® gel works in two ways: firstly it kills sun-damaged cells directly. Secondly, it stimulates the body’s own
immune system to remove any remaining sun-damaged cells.8
Hon. Assoc. Prof. Amanda Oakley, Waikato Dermatologist and Manager of DermNet New Zealand website, said: “This is great
news for New Zealand, where the total number of new melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer cases amount to around 80% of
all new cancers each year.4 If you have solar keratoses, you have a high risk of developing a type of non-melanoma skin
cancer.9”
The availability of Picato® gel was announced at an event yesterday evening in Auckland attended by leading
Dermatologists, skin cancer GPs, other health care professionals and key people involved in the 15 year research and
development program to bring this new medication to patients who need it. This launch follows approval from the New
Zealand regulatory authority (Medsafe) for the treatment of solar keratoses in adults.1
A problem affecting many New Zealanders
Historically New Zealand has one of the highest non-melanoma skin cancer incidences in the world.10 More than 90 per
cent of skin cancers are due to excessive sun exposure in high UV environments such as New Zealand. UV levels are 40 per
cent higher during summer than at corresponding latitudes in the Northern hemisphere. A significant proportion of the
population has a fair skin type which burns easily and most New Zealanders have an outdoor lifestyle and a tendency to
‘seek the sun’.10,11
Dr Peter Welburn, who was previously Head of R & D for Peplin and whose team developed Picato® is thrilled that this new treatment for actinic keratosis is now being
made available to patients in New Zealand. The approval of this product by MedSafe here in New Zealand follows similar
approvals in the US, Europe, Canada and Australia.
A New Innovative Treatment
Picato® gel was discovered in Australia. This discovery led to the formation of the Australian company Peplin Biotech,
which evaluated the anti-cancer properties of this compound in conjunction with the Queensland Institute of Medical
Research (QIMR).
The medication’s active ingredient, ingenol mebutate, is derived from the plant Euphorbia peplus, first discovered in 1997 by Australian scientists.
Although Picato® gel is an Australian invention, NZ dermatologists were involved in some important early stage clinical
research that was conducted locally.
*ENDS*