Advisory Panel Backs Mela Skin Cancer Device

An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration have backed an experimental skin cancer device manufactured by Mela.

The panel voted 8 to 7 in favor of the MelaFind device, which works by aiding dermatologists to decide which skin lesions need to be further analyzed for possible cancer.

Many feel that the device offers more harm than benefits, as it can lead to many people not being diagnosed with skin cancer when they actually have it.

Even the FDA are not holding the device in very high regard, as they provided documents to the advisory panel stating the lack of clinical research conducted on the device.

“The decision to biopsy is subjective, and it’s variable. Having an objective device to give me input on making that decision would be very helpful,” says Laura Ferris, a dermatologist at the University of Pittsburgh who studied MelaFind.

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