Electro-Optical Raises $11.5 Million For Development Of Melanoma Diagnosis Device

Electro-Optical Sciences (MELA), an Irvington, NY-based company that’s working on a device for diagnosing melanoma, has raised $11.5 million in a private placement.

The money will go toward continued development of EOS’s flagship product, MelaFind, a point-of-care hand-held imaging device that emits multiple wavelengths to capture images of pigmented skin lesions, and extracts data. Using classifier algorithms trained on a proprietary database of melanomas and benign lesions, the data gathered from the images are analyzed to determine whether the lesion should be biopsied.

Once commercially available, the system, connected via the Internet to a central server at EOS’s offices, will transmit a report to the physician’s office. EOS says its database, which includes in vivo MelaFind images and corresponding histopathological results of over 5,000 biopsied lesions from over 3,500 patients, is the largest of its kind in the U.S.

In October 2006, EOS’s PMA application for MelaFind was granted expedited-review status by FDA. The company launched its pivotal clinical trail for MelaFind back in January. It will include up to 1,200 pigmented skin lesions and at least 93 eligible melanomas for analysis. As of June, accrual was over 20 percent complete and four sites were active. At the time of the June trial update, CEO Joseph Gulfo said EOS was initiating discussions with potential commercialization partners.

Cowen and Company acted as the lead placement agent for this latest transaction, with ThinkEquity Partners as co-placement agent.