Diagnostics company SkylineDx has secured €20m (£18.1m) funding from Benelux biotech investor Aat van Herk to advance the development of its skin cancer diagnostic test.

Discovered by a major US hospital, the new melanoma test is further advanced and developed by SkylineDx.

Funding for skin cancer diagnostic test

The test, which is based on the combination of genetic information from the primary melanoma cells and other patient and tumour characteristics, holds the capacity to precisely predict the risk of having metastases present in the lymph nodes.

The melanoma test will help clinicians to avoid conducting surgery for the removal of lymph nodes.

According to the company, expert physicians estimate that around 80% of these biopsies can be safely avoided as they turn out to have no sign of cancerous cells.

SkylineDx CEO Dharminder Chahal said: “This capital commitment is a very significant call of confidence.

“With the financial requirements secured and Professor Alexander Eggermont on board as our medical advisor, we can initiate the necessary clinical studies in collaboration with expert physicians, patient associations and other stakeholders, in order to get this test from bench to bedside and reimbursed.”

In November 2015, SkylineDx secured CE-IVD mark approval from the European Competent Authority for its MMprofiler prognostic test to determine the level of risk of a patient with multiple myeloma.

MMprofiler enables physicians to use SKY92 high-risk gene signature to more accurately measure the prognosis of a patient with multiple myeloma by classifying them into a high or standard risk group.

Based in Rotterdam, SkylineDx manages a commercial office and CAP/CLIA certified laboratory in San Diego, California, US.

With a main focus on diagnostics, SkylineDx helps healthcare professionals to accurately determine the type or status of the disease, as well as predict a patient’s response to a specific treatment.

The company also provides Gesture machine learning algorithm, which helps in identifying patients that share genetic similarities in their diseased cells, but have received different treatments.

Related: Skyline Medical prices 3MUSD offering