DigitalDerm receives investment from SC Launch!
November 12, 2007
COLUMBIA, SC – November 13, 2007 – Columbia-based DigitalDerm, Inc., a company that delivers the MoleMapCD System as a standard of care for early detection of melanoma, will receive an investment from SCRA affiliate SC Launch! today at the DigitalDerm offices. Today’s ceremony includes a ribbon-cutting at 4:30 p.m. at 1529 Washington Street in downtown Columbia to celebrate the opening DigitalDerm’s new corporate headquarters.
DigitalDerm develops products advancing the science of dermatology. The company’s first commercial offering, MoleMapCD® technology, was developed in conjunction with the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. MoleMapCD technology has been in use for more than a decade at Duke and at other medical facilities. It is the new standard of care to document the skin of patients at high-risk of melanoma and it enhances the ability to identify melanoma in early, more treatable stages.
“The expertise of the SC Launch! staff has really given us access to important tools we could not get otherwise,” said DigitalDerm CEO Marty Lefkowitz. “SC Launch! has legitimized us through their due diligence process and has better positioned us to angel investor groups, venture capital firms and to medical people throughout the region,” he said. Lefkowitz said that through DigitalDerm’s MoleMapCD technology, the company provides the most technologically advanced total body photography imaging system available.
DigitalDerm’s MoleMapCD technology is a total baseline system for early melanoma detection. The unique MoleMapCD technology combines total body photography and patented software into a CD-based medical record that runs on any personal computer with a Windows-based system. For the first time, physicians and patients have a standardized, complete digital map – 35 images in all – to use as a baseline for new and changing moles.
DigitalDerm is committed to the needs of the medical community and the patients they serve in the detection of melanoma. “We want to educate physicians about the benefits and applications of the system and support patients’ needs,” said Lefkowitz. “Until now, there was no accurate, standardized way for physicians and patients to identify skin changes.”
“We are proud to be a part of DigitalDerm’s success as they make important dermatological advances within South Carolina,” said Bill Mahoney, SCRA CEO. “Their partnership with the University of South Carolina Incubator program as well as their relationships with hospitals and physicians within the state provides a strong example of how collaboration brings medical advancement for the good of the people of South Carolina,” he said. “We are pleased that DigitalDerm’s association with SC Launch! is positioning them to attract the larger capital investments which they need for further growth.”
DigitalDerm, which currently operates in the Southeastern U.S., is in the process of launching MoleMapCD technology nationwide. The company is exploring international introductions on a country-by-country basis and developing new, functionality-enhanced releases of its technology.
The DigitalDerm announcement follows a series of others by SC Launch! In recent months, more than two dozen start-up initiatives across the state have received financial support from SC Launch! Other SC Launch! portfolio companies include Argolyn Bioscience, Sabal Medical and Advanced Automation Consulting.
# # #
About DigitalDerm (www.digitalderm.com)
Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., DigitalDerm, Inc. was founded by leading melanoma expert James Grichnik,
MD, PhD, and Sam Chesnutt, to develop products advancing the science of dermatology. The company’s first
commercial offering, MoleMapCD® technology, was developed in conjunction with the Duke Comprehensive
Cancer Center, Durham, N.C., where Dr. Grichnik is a researcher and clinician.
About SC Launch (www.sclaunch.org)
SC Launch!, an SCRA affiliate, assists entrepreneurial start-up companies with up-front counseling, seed-funding, and access to a powerful resource network. The SC Launch! mission is to help generate knowledge economy jobs in South Carolina, enhance the state’s quality of life and provide opportunity for all South Carolinians in the new economy.
About SCRA (www.scra.org)
SCRA is a global leader in applied research and commercialization services with offices in Anderson, Charleston, and Columbia. SCRA collaborates to advance technology with industry, government, and research universities like Clemson University, the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina.
