MELA Sciences Announces Additions to Board of Directors

IRVINGTON, NY--(Marketwire - Dec 12, 2011) - MELA Sciences (NASDAQ: MELA) today announced the appointment of several new directors to serve on its Board -- Robert Coradini, Mark Fabiani, John Goddard, James Noble, and David Stone.

"With FDA and CE Mark approval of our breakthrough product, MelaFind^®, we are now a commercial-stage company, and we look to the expertise of our new directors in the fields of international sales and marketing, investor and public relations, accounting, business development, and strategic planning as we prepare for our first quarter 2012 product launches in the US and Germany," said Joseph V. Gulfo, MD, President and CEO of MELA Sciences.

Robert Coradini: Former President of several Johnson & Johnson Companies, including Cordis Endovascular, LifeScan and Cardiovations, President of New Ventures for J&J Consumer Group, and head of business development for J&J Medical Device & Diagnostics Group. He also ran OrthoNeutrogena and Colbar LifeSciences for J&J. Prior to J&J, Mr. Coradini was with General Electric for ten years, seven of which were with GE Medical Systems, a leader in diagnostic imaging. Mr. Coradini currently serves on the Board of Directors of WaferGen BioSystems and Chairs its Nominating and Governance Committee.

Mark Fabiani: Formerly Special Counsel to President Clinton, Deputy Campaign Manager for Vice President Al Gore, and Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Justice Department. Mr. Fabiani is Principal of Fabiani and Lehane, a specialty communications and advisory firm.

John Goddard: Former Chief Financial Officer AstraZeneca's US operations and Head of Strategic Planning and Business Development of AstraZeneca PLC. Mr. Goddard currently serves on the Board of Directors of Optos PLC and is a member of its Audit Committee, as well as a non-executive director of an Indian company, Intas Pharmaceuticals Limited.

James Noble: Former Chief Financial Officer of British Biotech and currently CEO of Immunocore, a UK-based biotech company and CEO of Adaptimmune Ltd. Mr. Noble is currently on the Boards of Directors of GW Pharmaceuticals and 3D Diagnostics Imaging.

David K. Stone: Founder and Managing Director of Liberty Tree Advisors, LLC, a former Managing Director of Research at Cowen & Company and former Managing Director and Partner at Flagship Ventures. Mr. Stone is currently on the Boards of Directors of PAKA Pulmonary Pharmaceuticals and Seahorse Bioscience, and was previously a director of Hypnion, Morphotek and Oscient Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Gulfo added, "Having achieved FDA and CE Mark approvals in 2011, it is with bittersweet emotion that we effect these changes to our Board, saying goodbye to directors who have served multiple tours in our fight to win the product approvals. We sincerely thank Messrs. Braginsky, Castleman, Chryssis and Dr. Wagner for their excellent contributions, without which we could not have succeeded, and we wish them well."

MelaFind is the Company's breakthrough non-invasive and objective automated point of care system for use when a dermatologist chooses to obtain additional information for a decision to biopsy clinically atypical pigmented skin lesions with one or more clinical or historical characteristics of melanoma.

About Melanoma

Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, responsible for approximately 75% of skin cancer fatalities. The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be 70,230 new cases of invasive melanoma and about 8,790 related melanoma deaths in 2011 alone. The incidence of melanoma is on the rise. A 2008 National Cancer Institute report indicates that the annual incidence of melanoma among young adult Caucasian women rose 50% between 1980 and 2004.

The five year survival rate for patients with stage IV melanoma is less than 15%, with most patients dying within 6 to 10 months. Detecting early melanoma and conducting prompt treatment is essential to improving the prognosis. With early detection, surgical removal alone is usually the only required treatment because the melanoma is limited to the epidermis, the outer layer of skin. In this early stage, the cure rate with surgical removal is virtually 100%.

About MELA Sciences, Inc.

MELA Sciences is a medical device company focused on the design, development and commercialization of non-invasive tools to provide additional information to dermatologists during melanoma skin examinations. The Company's flagship product, MelaFind^®, is intended to be used when a trained dermatologist chooses to obtain additional information to help decide whether to biopsy certain indeterminate pigmented skin lesions. MelaFind has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is approved for use in the U.S. In addition, MelaFind has received the CE Mark and is approved for use in the European Union.

For more information on MELA Sciences, visit www.melasciences.com.

Safe Harbor

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include but are not limited to our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements that contain words such as "expects," "contemplates," "anticipates," "plans," "intends," "believes," "assumes," "predicts" and variations of such words or similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends, or that do not relate to historical matters. These statements are based on our current beliefs or expectations and are inherently subject to significant known and unknown uncertainties and changes in circumstances, many of which are beyond our control. There can be no assurance that our beliefs or expectations will be achieved. Actual results may differ materially from our beliefs or expectations due to financial, economic, business, competitive, market, regulatory and political factors or conditions affecting the company and the medical device industry in general, as well as more specific risks and uncertainties facing the company such as those set forth in its reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Factors that might cause such a difference include whether Melafind® achieves market acceptance or becomes commercially viable. Given the uncertainties affecting companies in the medical device industry such as the company, any or all of these forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect. Therefore, you should not rely on any such factors or forward-looking statements. The company urges you to carefully review and consider the disclosures found in its filings with the SEC which are available at www.sec.gov and www.melasciences.com.