Between 4 million and 4.5 million surgical skin biopsies are performed each year. Only around 180,000 cases of melanoma are found from these biopsies. That’s a lot of cutting that ultimately proves unnecessary. Worse, these skin inspections sometimes fail to detect when melanoma or other skin cancers are present.
DMTK addresses these problems. The company currently markets its Pigmented Lesion Assay (PLA) for diagnosing melanoma. There’s no cutting required. Instead, an adhesive patch is placed on the skin, then removed and sent to a lab. Genomic testing is performed on the lesion to determine if the individual has melanoma.
This approach is 17 times less likely to miss a melanoma diagnosis. It’s nearly 25% less expensive than surgical biopsy. Is there a big market for such a game-changing technology? You bet. DermTech estimates its total addressable market in skin cancer is close to $10 billion per year.