Newcastle’s AMLo gets £2.45 million-shot to facilitate early-stage skin cancer test

UK-based medical device company that specialises in the early detection of skin cancers, AMLo Biosciences (AMLo) has brought in an investment of £2.45 million. The round saw the participation of Ascension’s Life Fund and Conduit’s EIS Impact Fund, and re-investment from NorthStar Ventures, Future Planet Capital’s BIF Opportunities Fund, Esperante, and a number of angel investors.

The extra cash will facilitate the completion of essential clinical studies, providing the evidence required to gain inclusion in clinical guidelines in key markets and supporting the launch of AMBLor in the U.K. and the U.S. in 2022 and Australia in 2023.

A spin-out from Newcastle University, the startup aims to improve the management of skin cancers through risk stratification, enabling targeted and personalised cancer management.

At present all early-stage melanomas are treated in a similar way, sometimes involving invasive surveillance diagnostics designed to identify the few high-risk melanomas at the expense of the many. The company claims AMBLor or AMLo’s ‘rule-out’ prognostic test for early-stage skin cancer can accurately identify genuinely low risk, early-stage melanomas, potentially relieving thousands of patients from the risks associated with surveillance techniques and significant anxiety.

Dr Marie Labus, CEO and co-founder, AMLo said: “This funding allows AMLo to embark on the next step of our journey with the resources to potentially relieve countless people with early-stage melanoma from the anxiety and follow-up burden that should be reserved for those with higher risk disease. Our levelling up from an academic spin-out to commercial success is critical to ensure we have the resources to further drive innovation in medical devices across our markets.”

Guy Pengelley, portfolio manager, Future Planet Capital, added: “Already in this relatively short period, the firm has achieved significant milestones including scientific validation and a successful pilot launch in the U.K. We look forward to supporting them during the next stage of their expansion as the company scales up to become a commercial success, with further launch in the U.K. and the U.S.”