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6 treatment settings, 3 with more than one named option. Each section lays out the options the standard of care names, what each is for, the trials behind them with their recorded results, the side effects and cautions on record, and questions to ask. Built from the cancer page's standard-of-care rows; nothing here is advice for your case.
Vismodegib (ERIVANCE) or sonidegib (BOLT); intermittent dosing to limit cramps, hair loss and taste loss; surgery or radiotherapy after response where feasible.
Vismodegib was the first hedgehog-pathway drug, for basal cell carcinomas too advanced for surgery; it shrinks most tumours but muscle cramps, taste loss and hair loss make long-term use hard.
Sonidegib (Odomzo) is the second hedgehog inhibitor for locally advanced basal cell carcinoma, similar in effect and side effects to vismodegib.
Pills that block a developmental signalling pathway hijacked by basal cell skin cancer, shrinking tumours that cannot be operated on; also used in some leukaemia.
Objective response 43% in locally advanced and 30% in metastatic basal cell carcinoma (independent review).
Objective response at 200 mg: 43% in locally advanced and 15% in metastatic basal cell carcinoma (central review).
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Vismodegib for several months to shrink large facial tumours before surgery and reduce the defect.
Vismodegib was the first hedgehog-pathway drug, for basal cell carcinomas too advanced for surgery; it shrinks most tumours but muscle cramps, taste loss and hair loss make long-term use hard.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
No side-effect rates or interaction flags are recorded for these options yet. The side-effect lookup and interaction checker cover the products that have them.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Cemiplimab (approved 2021); clinical trials of intratumoural agents and immunotherapy combinations.
A PD-1 blocker that is the standard for advanced skin squamous cell carcinoma, and in 2025 became the first adjuvant immunotherapy for it.
No headline result recorded yet.
No headline result recorded yet.
No side-effect rates or interaction flags are recorded for these options yet. The side-effect lookup and interaction checker cover the products that have them.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Vismodegib or sonidegib; cemiplimab after progression; platinum chemotherapy has only case-series support.
Vismodegib was the first hedgehog-pathway drug, for basal cell carcinomas too advanced for surgery; it shrinks most tumours but muscle cramps, taste loss and hair loss make long-term use hard.
Sonidegib (Odomzo) is the second hedgehog inhibitor for locally advanced basal cell carcinoma, similar in effect and side effects to vismodegib.
A PD-1 blocker that is the standard for advanced skin squamous cell carcinoma, and in 2025 became the first adjuvant immunotherapy for it.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
No side-effect rates or interaction flags are recorded for these options yet. The side-effect lookup and interaction checker cover the products that have them.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Radiotherapy for tumours not resectable but still confined; electron beam and superficial radiotherapy for suitable sites; multidisciplinary review of all advanced cases.
IMRT and IGRT shape the radiation beam to the tumour's outline from multiple angles and check the patient's position with a scan before every session, so surrounding organs receive less dose. Fewer, larger doses are now standard in breast and prostate cancer, but a low-dose bath still spreads across normal tissue.
Low-energy X-rays that stop within a few millimetres, used to cure basal and squamous cell skin cancers where surgery would scar or is not wanted.
Electron beams stop within a few centimetres of the skin, so they treat surface tumours, scars and the whole skin without reaching the organs underneath. Most linacs make them; special set-ups spread them over the entire body or deliver them during surgery.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Surveillance and surgery, avoidance of radiotherapy, hedgehog inhibitors for multiple advanced tumours, topical patidegib in trials.
Vismodegib was the first hedgehog-pathway drug, for basal cell carcinomas too advanced for surgery; it shrinks most tumours but muscle cramps, taste loss and hair loss make long-term use hard.
No headline result recorded yet.
No side-effect rates or interaction flags are recorded for these options yet. The side-effect lookup and interaction checker cover the products that have them.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.