DermTech Inc announces that its lead non-invasive melanoma detection test, the DermTech Pigmented Lesion Assay, is now available for use by clinicians and their patients via telemedicine.

This genomic diagnostic test enables patients, under the order of a physician, to non-invasively sample a lesion suspicious for melanoma at home via a supervised telemedicine appointment.

“While the majority of skin cancers can be relatively slow growing, melanoma is an exception to this rule and any delay in diagnosis, by even a month or two, can be the difference between life and death,” said Dr. June K. Robinson, a dermatologist who is a Research Professor of Dermatology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in a media release.

“The DermTech PLA is an important tool to non-invasively rule in or out melanoma in suspicious pigmented lesions with excellent accuracy. Today, in the current COVID-19 climate, the DermTech PLA is an essential tool that assists the doctor providing teledermatology care. If I identify a lesion on my patient that is concerning, the DermTech PLA Adhesive Skin Collection Kit allows me to offer this assay as a way of acquiring useful and accurate information to guide clinical decision making and determine if an office visit is necessary to remove the lesion.”

Melanoma won’t wait – this has been our rallying cry throughout this global pandemic, and it’s the reason we made the swift decision to close our offices early on and keep our genomics lab operational so we could pivot our melanoma testing to be available via telemedicine, a solution we always planned on promoting, but which healthcare providers now need immediately in these circumstances,” states John Dobak, MD, Chief Executive Officer of DermTech.

“DermTech is committed to transforming the practice of dermatology through our revolutionary non-invasive adhesive patch, which provides greater accuracy and earlier detection of melanoma. The remote use of our DermTech PLA Adhesive Skin Collection Kit enabled through teledermatology reinforces our commitment to empowering dermatologists to safely serve patients during this unprecedented time and further establishes what we believe will be a valuable new offering for years to come.”

The DermTech PLA uses a revolutionary adhesive patch technology to collect skin cells from the surface of an entire lesion without a biopsy, leaving the lesion intact to offer dermatologists the option for additional analyses if necessary. The skin cells extracted from the patch are analyzed for genetic data associated with melanoma. The DermTech PLA is highly validated with proven clinical utility, and has a 91% sensitivity with less than a 1% chance of missing a melanoma (99% NPV) in studies conducted in a clinical office setting.

DermTech is collecting data to verify that these clinical study results are replicable for patient-collected samples. Since its launch in 2016, the DermTech PLA has been used to assess more than 50,000 lesions and remains the first and only non-invasive gene expression test in dermatology.

For more information about the DermTech PLA Adhesive Skin Collection Kit:

[Source(s): DermTech, Business Wire]