Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited announced that it has obtained approval to commence a new study assessing the effect of its drug SCENESSE on DNA repair capacity in healthy volunteers, part of the Company's DNA Repair Development Program. SCENESSE is understood to protect and repair DNA, a concept that is now being confirmed in the clinic. Ultraviolet (UV) and high energy visible (HEV) light2 penetrate human skin, leading to cellular oxidative stress and damage to DNA within the nucleus of skin cells. This damage consists of changes to the DNA structure which, if left unrepaired, can replicate and increase the risk of skin cancers, such as melanoma. Under normal conditions, human biology is capable of repairing DNA damage through nucleotide excision repair and/or base excision repair (NER and BER, respectively), in which defective strands of DNA are "snipped" and removed, and replaced by the correct DNA sequences. Deficiencies in these repair processes ­ commonly seen in fair-skinned individuals of Anglo-Saxon origin ­ lead to a markedly higher risk of developing skin cancers. Pre-clinical studies have demonstrated that melanocortin drugs ­ including afamelanotide, the active ingredient in SCENESSE ­ can increase an individual's capacity to rejuvenate cells through the repair of damaged DNA. In 2020, CLINUVEL commenced a clinical program to confirm these findings in patients with xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) and healthy volunteers.