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The MELISA® test, a modification of the LTT test, started to take shape when Dr Vera Stejskal, a toxicologist at Astra Pharmaceuticals in Södertälje, Sweden, was asked to develop a test for the diagnosis of drug allergy among workers in their pharmaceutical factories.
In 1990, a colleague of Dr Stejskal, dermatologist Dr Margit Forsbeck, expressed a wish to try the test on patients who claimed that their symptoms were caused by their amalgam fillings. At that time, many patients came to Dr Forsbeck with oral problems, burning, itching and lichenoid reactions and claimed that they suffered from "oral galvanism" or "amalgam poisoning".
The problem was that patch testing was not very reliable for testing of metals on the skin since metals are toxic substances. If a metal causes irritation on the skin, it is difficult to differentiate between a toxic and an allergic reaction. The dermatologist was concern if such a thing as mercury allergy really existed and would like prove or disprove this. Perhaps MELISA® could do the job?
As Astra is a pharmaceutical company and not a diagnostic company, they had no interest in claming MELISA® as their own, even though it had been developed under their roof. Dr Stejskal got a green light to go ahead and file a patent, which was granted in the beginning of the nineties.
Shortly after, MELISA Medica Foundation was founded to promote research on metal allergy and treatments that can lead to the improvement of many so-called incurable diseases such a multiple sclerosis and chronic fatigue.
Now began the long process of validating the test for the diagnosis of metal allergy, which has lead to many scientific articles being published. Today, MELISA® is performed under license by certified laboratories worldwide and the test is reimbursed by public and private insurance in some countries. To this date, the MELISA® test has helped hundreds of patients to healthy life.
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