Forum for Nordic Dermato-Venereology Nr 3, 2018 | Page 8

Anette Bygum – Establishing a Clinical Trial Unit in Dermato-Venereology at Odense University Hospital, Denmark
Fig. 4. Photo taking in June 2018, where the
board of HAE Scandinavia met with staff from
the HAE Centre and our head nurse to discuss
patient database, future meetings and upcom-
ing research projects.
Talks about The European Reference Networks and Precision
Medicine are relevant in this context.
National Exerimental Therapy Partnership, NEXT
NEXT is a national public-private partnership working to
strengthen Denmark as a preferred country for early clinical
research sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry. With sup-
port from Innovation Fund Denmark and medical companies,
all departments of dermatology in Denmark participate in
NEXT Derma performing early clinical trials. A key issue has
been establishment of a prospective database with patients
suffering from atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. The patients
are given written information about NEXT and access to a
web-based platform, where they can have further information
and decide, whether they would be interested in participating
in clinical research trials. In case a clinical trial is planned,
the responsible dermatologist will contact selected patients
fulfilling inclusion criteria and ask whether they want to par-
ticipate. At any time the patient can withdraw consent and
be deleted from the database.
PREmedico and CAKS
The department participates in a local collaborative net-
work on Precision medicine, PREmedico, with the purpose
of integrating precision medicine in all hospital units. Also
research is part of the PREmedico collaboration focusing on
cancer and rare diseases. Recently a Centre was established
for inherited and complex diseases CAKS, defining follow-up
programs and responsible clinicians for selected disorders.
The department participates in a Danish multidisciplinary
collaboration on prognostic factors and personalised med-
icine among patients with chronic inflammatory diseases
including psoriasis.
A yearly PREmedico symposium is being held, where data from
our regional genodermatoses database is presented. Dr. Habil.
Julia Reichelt from Epidermolysis Bullosa House, Salzburg in
Austria, was a keynote speaker this year and gave a presenta-
tion with the title: Gene therapy for epidermolysis bullosa
70
U niversity C linics in the N ordic C ountries
as a model of curative treatment of inherited skin diseases.
Recently Julia Reichelt has become an Adjunct Professor at our
department, and we are looking forward to explore this new
collaboration on genodermatoses. In September 2 physicians
and 2 nurses from our department will go to Salzburg and visit
the dermatology clinics and research lab.
Reference
1. Hirsch T, Rothoeft T, Teig N, Bauer JW, Pellegrini G, De Rosa L, et
al. Regeneration of the entire human epidermis using transgenic
stem cells. Nature 2017; 551: 327–332.
Adherence and E-Health in psoriasis
In collaboration with our Adjunct Professor Steven Feldman,
Department of Dermatology, Wake Forest Medical Center,
North Carolina and Centre for Innovative Medical Technology,
clinical studies are performed to increase patient satisfaction
and adherence using E-Health.
An interdisciplinary research team comprising derma-
tologists, pharmacists, antropologists and medical de-
vice engineers has been established to study psoriasis
patients’ use of prescribed antipsoriatic drugs. We have
conducted drug utilization studies using the national
health data registries to report psoriasis patients’ real-life
use of antipsoriatic drugs. A focus group study provided
insights into psoriasis patients’ experiences with use of
topical drugs, where patients reported forgetfulness and
lack of motivation as main reasons for low adherence.
In collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry, smart-
phone app was developed to study the effect on psoriasis
patients’ adherence to topical therapy with calcipotriol/
betamethasone dipropionate cutaneous foam. The app was
tested in a single-center randomized controlled trial, which
showed that the app improved psoriasis patients’ adherence
to use of the topical drug as well as reduced severity of pso-
riasis. This promising outcome gives support to initiatives to
develop E-Health technologies to support patients’ adherence
to topical treatment for other more chronic skin diseases like
Forum for Nord Derm Ven 2018, Vol. 23, No. 3