Scots scientist says skin cancer vaccine coming
![If a vaccine is developed, care will still be needed in the sun. Picture: Phil Wilkinson](https://www.scotsman.com/webimg/legacy_elm_26520273.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&width=640&quality=65&enable=upscale)
![If a vaccine is developed, care will still be needed in the sun. Picture: Phil Wilkinson](/img/placeholder.png)
Professor Ian Frazer is involved in research to find viruses that could play a role in the development of skin cancers and said the vaccine could be available in ten years.
The Glasgow-born researcher, now based in Australia, said that once the viruses had been identified, experts hoped the drug could be developed to target the infections.
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Hide AdScotland, along with other parts of the UK, has seen a huge increase in skin cancer cases in the past decade. Cases of malignant melanoma – the most deadly form of skin cancer – have gone up more than 50 per cent in ten years, with more than 1,200 cases diagnosed each year.
In addition, almost 11,000 non-melanoma skin cancers, such as basel cell and squamous cell cancers, are diagnosed in Scotland each year. Although these are much less likely to be fatal, they place a major burden on health services.