The possibility of using organic light-emitting diodes to treat common skin cancers by making a light-emitting sticking plaster or bandage is very exciting. It could transform the treatment of some skin cancers - such wearable light sources would enable treatment by GPs or at home instead of inconvenient and costly hospital visits to specialist clinics, and help deal with a growing problem

Prof. Ferguson and I had this idea in 2001 and filed a patent on it - which can be quickly found by searching on our names at the European Patent Office webpage http://ep.espacenet.com/. We were fortunate to win proof of concept funding from Scottish Enterprise to try out the idea, showed that it worked and published our results in the British Journal of Dermatology and Materials Today. For many years we have described it as a light emitting sticking plaster or bandage in conference presentations and our 2006 press release, which was widely reported. In order to make the improved treatment that we envisioned widely available a wide range of regulatory issues need to be addressed and so we formed Lumicure Ltd to raise the necessary funds to do this. So I find the idea described in this article very exciting - and I should know as with Prof. Ferguson I proposed it! I look forward to it helping patients throughout the world.