Investor relations

Astron Clinica was founded in 1998 in Cambridge, UK, to develop medical devices based on a revolutionary new skin imaging technology invented by the company’s Scientific Director, Dr Symon Cotton.

The company’s core technology, SIAscopy, is protected by six patents and the first device, the SIAscope I, received European Community (CE) marking in December 2000 and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in February 2002. The SIAscope I was used primarily for clinical research. The compact SIAscope II was developed in 2001, and received CE marking in March 2002 and US FDA approval in February 2003.

Astron Clinica then focused on broadening access to SIAscopy by creating a software platform that not only had a lower entry price, but also meant that purchasers could add new SIAscopy applications easily and efficiently as they were developed. DERMETRICS, the result of this work, was launched in November 2004. DERMETRICS is cost-effective because it can be installed on an existing computer or laptop and because it supports non-contact SIAscopy, which uses a digital camera instead of Astron Clinica’s proprietary hand-held scanner.

DERMETRICS is designed around four skin imaging families – Skin Cancer, Skin Conditions, Skin Health and Cosmetics. Products available in the Skin Cancer family include MoleView and MoleManager, Astron Clinica’s flagship applications for imaging pigmented skin lesions, which includes malignant melanoma. Products in the other families are currently under development, and the papers section of this website carries published information about clinical and other trials using DERMETRICS.

Clinical research remains at the heart of all Astron Clinica’s product development, to ensure that new DERMETRICS products meet the requirements of their users. To date, 47 papers have been published on clinical trials and the applications of SIAscopy and DERMETRICS. Astron Clinica attends at least ten key conferences and events each year to disseminate research results, including the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Dermatologists, The British Association of Dermatology, the European Association of Dermatologists and Venereologists (EADV) and the World Melanoma Congress.

The company has received funding from several sources, including private individuals, £135,000 in UK Government SMART awards, institutional funding from QTP (managed by ET Capital) and the Oxford Technology VCT 2 Fund, and, more recently, Kuwait Finance House (Bahrain) purchased a 38.8% share of the company. Astron Clinica has 28 employees in the UK and Australia.

The markets for Astron Clinica’s DERMETRICS products include dermatologists, plastic surgeons, the primary care sector, skin care specialists and cosmetics developers. Skin cancer is a rapidly growing problem, with Australia and New Zealand having the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, and it is estimated that one in two Americans will develop a form of skin cancer during their lifetime. The global skin care market was estimated at $43billion in 2003, and a recent estimate put the worldwide cosmetics market – a market that is traditionally not susceptible to economic downturns – at 81billion euros.