Melanoma Soap: Teenager's Invention Could Revolutionize Skin Cancer Treatment

Un savon contre le mélanome : l’invention d’un ado qui pourrait révolutionner les traitements

Herman Bekele is a 15-year-old scientist who has just been named Kid of the Year by Time magazine. He is working on an innovative soap that could treat early and advanced skin cancers. Although animal testing has not yet begun, his idea is nevertheless being taken very seriously by renowned researchers.

At 15, Herman Bekele has just been named Kid of the Year by Time magazine. Why such a gratification ? Originally from Ethiopia, he arrived in the United States at the age of 4 with his family, he is said to have invented a soap capable of preventing and treating several forms of skin cancer, including melanoma, a potentially aggressive tumor, which, if treated at a late stage, can metastasize and lead to the death of the patient.

In France, 17,922 new cases of melanoma were diagnosed in 2023 and it caused 1,980 deaths in 2018. Worldwide, 132,000 melanomas are detected each year according to the World Health Organization.

Imiquimod at the heart of the invention

Concretely, what is Herman Bekele's idea ? It was born when this chemistry enthusiast heard about imiquimod, an antitumor that modifies the immune response. The drug comes in the form of a cream, indicated in the topical treatment of external genital and perianal warts in adults, but also against a form of melanoma. Herman Bekele then wondered if it would be possible to make a less expensive treatment, easy to access and use for patients.

He then thought of an object that everyone uses, regardless of socioeconomic class. “Almost everyone uses soap and water to clean themselves, so soap would probably be the best option,” he told Time magazine. Mixing the drug into a regular bar of soap isn't enough, because the suds from the soap eliminate the therapeutic power of imiquimod. The solution could then consist of combining the soap with lipid-based nanoparticles that would persist on the skin once the soap has been removed.

First tests coming soon

After winning $25,000 as the first place winner in a competition, he was then able to find a professional laboratory to host his research after meeting Professor Vito Rebecca, a biologist at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (United States). For six months, they have both been conducting basic research on mice. This involves injecting strains of skin cancer and then applying lipid soap, into which imiquimod has been introduced.

The first tests will take place soon, but there is still a long way to go before the soap sees the light of day… if it ever does. In addition to the tests, and only if they prove encouraging, the soap still needs to be patented and certified by the Food and Drug Administration, the American agency that certifies medicines. In all, if this soap against melanoma obtains marketing authorization, it could take a decade in total, estimates Time.

But Herman Bekele has time, at just 15 years old. He hopes to make it a treatment for early-stage skin cancers, particularly stage 0 when there is only a small growth on the skin. But also at higher stages, in addition to other treatments.