NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – DermTech today announced that it has raised $5.6 million in a private round of financing to support future development and commercialization of its qPCR-based melanoma detection assay.
Jacobs Investment Company led the Series B financing with additional investments coming from other existing and new investors, which were not named.
DermTech will use the funds to complete commercial validation of the melanoma test — its first product — and to establish a CLIA-certified lab facility in order to provide clinical testing services, the company said.
The company's melanoma test measures the expression of multiple gene targets in RNA extracted from skin samples collected using custom adhesive strips that non-invasively lift cells from suspicious lesions.
DermTech began evaluating PCR platforms to support its commercial melanoma assay in 2011, but it has not yet disclosed what platform the test will run on.
According to DermTech, clinical studies have demonstrated that the test has the ability to distinguish melanoma from non-melanoma with greater than 95 percent sensitivity and more than 70 percent specificity.
"The acquisition of the Series B Financing will help the Company tremendously as we continue to validate our assay and drive toward commercialization on this important tool for clinicians," John Dobak, DermTech's president and CEO, said in a statement.