Forget turning orange in the spray-tan booth – an Aussie biotech company is in the process of testing a pill that creates a perfect real tan in just two days. The pill, which is the size of a grain of rice, is implanted under the skin, where it stimulates melanin production and produces an inside-out sun-blocking tan good for two months.
The pill, which uses the American-developed drug CUV1647, is being tested not for cosmetic purposes but for the protection of organ transplant patients, particularly fair-skinned ones, who are at a 100-times greater risk of skin cancer because they must take drugs that suppress the immune system.
Trials are underway at Royal Melbourne Hospital to determine whether the tan produced by the pill will give transplant patients adequate UV protection. Although the biotech company said medical uses of the treatment are more important than cosmetic ones, the company director said, “There is clearly a great need to develop better protection against UV and the sun, especially in the changing environment of recent years.”
Depending on the outcome of the trials, the pill may be available within two years.
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