Verisante Aura

The Aura, winner of the the Popular Science "Best of What's New" award in 2011, is a non-invasive tool that will help doctors determine if a skin lesion is cancerous and needs to be biopsied.  It helps provide information for the chemical composition of skin, providing results in under one second for 21 different cancer biomarkers. Not only does the Aura detect melanoma, but all other major skin cancers at with 99% sensitivity (detects 99% of skin cancers tested, with Melanoma being 34%). In addition to skin cancer, the Aura technology is also licensed for lung, colon, and cervical cancers. 

The first prototype was reconstructed to make a more compact, more producible, and more commercially attractive for doctors. The final product did not hit markets until Fall of 2012 so that the newest prototype could be tested before its massive sales launch. The builders of the product were convinced that the new prototype is better than the original as it produces better results. After successfully beta testing five Auras in Canada, Verisante created 25 units in October, 35 in November and 45 in December. The current target markets for the Aura include Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Australia, which has the highest cases of skin cancer in the world.

Brian Marckx, Zachs Investment Research analyst, believes that Verisant's Aura may be the "new gold standard for skin cancer diagnosis." Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer; 40-50% of Americans get skin cancer, and although Melanoma accounts for 4% of skin cancer, it is the cause of 75% of skin cancer deaths. Melanoma occurrences are increasing more than any other cancer, and the Aura hopes to eliminate this problem.  As shown by the chart, it is imperative that the Aura help detect Melanoma because if caught early, the chances for survival are greater. 

The Aura does have one major competitor in the market - the MelaFind. However, "While Aura can detect melanoma, squamous cell and basal cell carcinomas - two common types of non-melanoma skin cancers - and actinic keratosis, a premalignant skin condition, MelaFind is indicated for the detection of melanoma only." Aura also is not in the United States, and only takes one second to produce results whereas it takes two minutes for the MelaFind to scan a lesion.  Additionally, Aura has 99% sensitivity and 17% specificity, compared with 98% and 9.5% for the MelaFind. 

Aura's goal is to increase survival rates, reduce treatment costs, eliminate the need for biopsies, and decrease wait times for dermatologists because scans can be done by trained technicians. The Aura is currently awaiting FDA approval before the end of 2014.