The Food and Drug Administration in June approved the first new general sunscreen ingredient in 20 years: bemotrizinol, or BEMT. Dermatologists and oncologists applauded the move because it provides broader and longer-lasting protection than current sunscreens on the U.S. market and comes at a time when melanoma rates are on the rise.
In this edited conversation, the Gazette spoke with Hillary Tsibris, Harvard Medical School assistant professor of dermatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and director of melanoma dermatology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Tsibris said BEMT has been used in Europe for decades but held up by the U.S. regulatory process.
How is it that this new sunscreen chemical is the first in decades that the FDA has approved?
With the exception of a few very specific formulations that were approved in a limited capacity in 2006, this is the first general sunscreen ingredient, sunscreen filter, that the U.S. has approved in more than two decades.
The biggest holdup has been that the U.S. regulates sunscreen filters as over-the-counter drugs. That means that they are subject to strict, pharmaceutical-style testing and trials prior to approval.
