Pilbara skin test trial launched

Karratha was the launch location for the clinical trial phase of a skin cancer test that emerged from the state government’s global search for innovations to fix acute health issues in the Pilbara.

DermR Health Solutions was one of 10 finalists in The Challenge announced late last year, which offers a $5 million prize for the best solution that uses technology, supported by research, to improve health outcomes for people living in regional and remote Western Australia.

The Sydney-based company led by Stefan Mazy has devised a small patch to swiftly collect a tissue sample on skin lesions suspected of being cancerous, with the aim to remove the need for traditional biopsies, which are more invasive and have greater handling complications.    

Funded by the state’s Future Health Research and Innovation Fund with Rio Tinto and BHP, each finalist, announced in March, was to be granted $200,000 to begin work to prove their concept on the ground.

The 10 finalists to progress to the proof of concept stage were:

• Pilbara Digital Twin by Telstra Health;
• Pilbara Engage – Digital Care Pathways by Curve Tomorrow, WeGuide and DiabetesWA;
• Healthy Connections by Curtin University;
• Lyfe Languages by Women and Infants Research Foundation and Lyfe Languages project;
• Health Innovation – Transformative Interconnected Digital Ecosystem (HI-TIDE) by the University of Western Australia;
• Dreamscape – Virtual Journeys – Health and Happiness by Real Serious Games;
• Chronic Disease Care on Country: Outreach Screening Incorporating Artificial Intelligence with Multidisciplinary Specialist Management by Lions Outback Vision and Lions Eye Institute;
• Digital Yarning Using Interoperable Computer Integration for Sharing Medical Records and Photographs to Close the Gap by CSIRO and South Metropolitan Health Service;
• The DermR Patch by DermR Health Solutions; and
• Smarter, Faster and Culturally Safer Virtual Care using XRAI Vision by Agili8.

The finalists have 12 months to deliver their solution on the ground in the Pilbara.

Mr Mazy said non-melanoma skin cancers cost the WA healthcare system $110 million annually, but 40 per cent of skin biopsy procedures for skin cancer were categorised as benign, costing the state over $40 million a year.

He said that, in 2021, more than 50,000 unnecessary skin biopsies were performed in WA.

“Our new diagnostic tool could replace the need to painfully cut into someone’s skin for cancer detection, when it may not be necessary, causing a huge strain on the healthcare system,” Mr Mazy said.

On the flip side of that, he said, pain associated with the traditional process put people off from having checks that put them at risk.

DermR claims its pre-screening device has been demonstrated to collect near equivalent genetic information compared to a skin biopsy.