Dermtech Rallies To Record High On Health Insurance Contract For Skin Cancer Detection Test

DermTech Inc DMTK shares were soaring to a new high Thursday after the company unveiled a contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas for its melanoma gene express test.

What Happened: La Jolla, California-based DermTech, a precision dermatology company, said it has entered into a contract with the BCBSTX for making its pigmented lesion assay, or PLA, which became available to the health insurer's 6 million members in the state of Texas Feb. 1.

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The company's non-invasive, gene expression-based PLA helps in early detection of melanoma, and is proven to have a 99% negative predictive value, or a less than 1% probability of missing a melanoma when administered properly.

The test is now available as an in-network option for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas' Blue Essential, Traditional Indemnity and PPO/POS members. 

"This agreement with BCBSTX shows DermTech's commitment to making its transformative PLA test accessible to more patients," DermTech exec Dan Visage said in a statement. 

DermTech reported a 220% year-over-year increase in assay revenues for the third quarter ended October 2020, thanks to higher billable sample volume and revenue recognition of Medicare samples that have been covered by Medicare.

DMTK Price Action: DermTech shares were rallying by 27.09% to $67.42 at last check Thursday. 

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