San Diego skin cancer diagnostics startup DermTech is developing gene classifiers and expression tests to help more accurately screen for dermatologic issues.
It just raised $2.4 million to do so, according to a regulatory filing – an interesting funding notice, given its announcement last year that it was readying for – and then withdrawing – a $25 million IPO. Poor market conditions, it said. Renaissance Capital writes:
The La Jolla, CA-based company was founded in 1995 and booked $0 million in sales for the 12 months ended June 30, 2014. DMTK. DermTech initially filed confidentially on 4/4/2014.
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The company’s lead assay is tests pigmented lesions for gene expression that matches melanoma. It’s a noninvasive test that could, ostensibly, cut down on unnecessarily surgical biopsies. Actually, the company just gave notice that it received a patent for this test.
The tests work by extracting RNA from skin tissue samples that are collected by stripping a negligible amount of skin off with an adhesive patch. Using this RNA, it then analyzes the expression of melanoma-associated genes.
[Image from flickr user Christiana Care]