Small Business: Community focus - Andrew Maslin

MoleMap claims to be the world's most advanced melanoma surveillance programme.

Andrew Maslin, General Manager of MoleMap, which claims to be the world's most advanced melanoma surveillance programme, combining state of the art technology with the skills of specialist dermatologists to diagnose and detect melanoma at the earliest possible stage. Dr Mark Gray, the company's medical director and a shareholder, is a specialist dermatologist and dermatological surgeon practising in Auckland. In addition to his own medical practice, Dr Gray has interests in a select group of start-up medical ventures focused on furthering the field of dermatology, among which is MoleMap. He acts as MoleMap's primary consulting dermatologist.

Tell me about the business

Melanoma is a very scary and aggressive cancer that affects more than 2000 New Zealanders each year. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people in Australia and New Zealand have their skin checked and many more don't get their skin checked, some leaving it too late and sadly dying from this cancer.

MoleMap has developed a melanoma screening programme that we position as the most reassuring way for people to manage their melanoma risk.

By combining our proprietary imaging and cloud based tele-health technologies with a validated clinical procedure, that in turn is linked to a global pool of melanoma experts, we are able to offer our customers greater peace of mind than they may have received from just a visit to their doctor. And for doctors, we are able to provide them with cloud- based tools that they can use to help them manage their patient's melanoma risk and in turn their diagnostic risk. Our cloud - based based tele-health platform allows us to roll out a flexible and scalable business model across multiple countries.

To date, more than 250,000 patient visits have been completed in 32 clinics in New Zealand, 19 clinics in Australia and 8 clinics in the USA. Our vision is to have MoleMap technologies and services touch hundreds of thousands of people, providing reassurance and saving lives.

We are preparing to launch a new channel to market - MoleSnap - a lower cost, more accessible and more convenient channel to the wider population to provide them with access to our technology and experts when they need reassurance about one or two lesions. By deploying this as a kiosk-based service through retail channels, we have the potential for convenient locations, presence, credibility and distribution, allowing us to access hundreds of thousands of people who worry about their skin.

What research do you share and how has that helped people?

MoleMap draws on the experience of some of the most respected melanoma experts in New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Austria and the USA. The MoleMap data has been shared with researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), New York University, University of Graz, University of Queensland, University of Waikato and University of Auckland. We are very proud to have been a significant contributor to the development of the Ugly Duckling sign by researchers from MSKCC which is now used as a valuable tool for the identification of melanoma by non-specialist medical professionals. The fundamental procedures used by MoleMap are based on the recommendations in the clinical guidelines for the treatment of melanoma in Australia and New Zealand.

How are you trying to educate New Zealanders about checking their moles?

The MoleMap services all include an educational component on what skin cancers to be aware of, what to look for, how to, and how often, to carry out skin checks. We strongly encourage our patients to take responsibility for managing their skin in conjunction with their doctors and MoleMap.

We are often out and about at local events as we are always looking for opportunities to educate New Zealanders about prevention and early detection. We attend sports matches, women's health events and trade shows and local festivals. The feedback we receive from the public is always very positive, so we are looking to increase our presence at these events.

Earlier this year, we trialled a retail service through a number of pharmacies that allowed patients convenient access to the MoleMap service for one to two lesions of concern at an affordable price. This was received very enthusiastically and we found three melanoma in less than 100 consultations suggesting that people are walking around with melanomas without knowing it. This service has the potential to address the issue of: "I just don't have time," as the locations are convenient and availability is extended to retail hours.

Is MoleMap an expert in its field?

Yes. MoleMap has created a comprehensive and efficient programme that uses some of the world's top dermatologists to diagnose melanoma. Our data shows that we excel at what we do. Our diagnostic accuracy for detecting melanoma sits at 98 per cent, which exceeds the reported accuracy of specialist melanoma dermatologists and far exceeds the accuracy of non-skilled doctors.

What else would you like to do to spread the word about checking moles?

Recently a study out of Germany showed that if everyone had just one skin check in their lifetime it reduced the population mortality due to melanoma by over 47 per cent. If we could get every New Zealander to get their skin checked at least once in a specialist setting we could go a long way to reducing the impact of this deadly disease.

Next week: It can be said that NZ game developers punch seriously above their weight, the likes of Sidhe Interactive, SmallWorlds and Ninja Kiwi. I want to hear from more game developers making some major strides here and overseas who are not so well known - yet. I know you are out there, please get in touch.