Hypericin – Oncology

The FDA has approved Orphan Drug status for Hypericin to treat two cancer indications: brain cancer (glioblastoma) and cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL).

Hy BioPharma anticipates that hypericin will become a clinically approved drug within 3 years to treat CTCL and within 5 years to treat gliomas.

Malignant gliomas
Malignant gliomas account for 70% of all brain tumors with a combined incidence of 6-8 cases per population of 100,000. Approximately 20,000 cases have been diagnosed in the US alone and approximately 60,000 – 70,000 cases in the western world.

CTCL
Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, is a slow growing malignancy of T-lymphocytes. It initially manifests in the skin, but eventually spreads to the lymph nodes and internal organs. CTCL is the most common type of primary cutaneous lymphoma, which represents 65% of cases. While the causes of CTCL are still unknown, the incidence of CTCL has more than doubled in the last 20 years with 1,500 new cases diagnosed in the United States every year. Estimates are that 16,000 to 20,000 Americans have CTCL and prognosis is variable based upon the degree of skin involvement at disease onset.