Therapy Analysis - Psoriasis and Skin Cancer
The impact of skin disorders: psoriasis and skin cancer
“All the carnall beauty of my wife, Is but skin deep.”Sir Thomas Overbury, 1613
Human skin, the largest organ, is an important visual communication tool, serving also to display how healthy we are.
A recent study proposed that the evolution of colour vision in primates occurred to allow people to detect changes in blood and oxygen concentrations in the skin, which in turn indicate emotional cues. And scientists agree that how we look to some extent represents how good our genes are, and thus marks our chance of reproductive success.
Try as we might, it is impossible to avoid the ghosts of our ancestral past - we form impressions of people within seconds of meeting them, and though superficial, it is in our nature to make judgements based on appearance. It may be what's inside that counts, but it's what's on the outside that sways those around us. And so although the 400,000 in Britain who suffer from disfigurements of the skin, including birthmarks, scars and acne, are in no danger of dying from their conditions, they may be subject to bullying, isolation and rejection. Furthermore, there is considerable evidence that sufferers of skin diseases are subject to discrimination too; the Shaw Trust states of the 2% of the disabled population in the UK with skin conditions and allergies, only 65% are employed. One study found suicidal ideation is not uncommon among patients with dermatological conditions.
Due to the low mortality rate there is relatively little pressure on the drugs R&D market to produce novel, effective therapies for skin conditions, despite the potential for them to have an enormous psychological and social impact. The amount of R&D in this area has therefore remained stable over the past 11 years, with a slow increase in number of drugs in development in the past 2 years primarily in treatments for psoriasis, as well as allergic and non-allergic pruritis and inflammation (Graph 1).
According to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, the most common skin conditions seen by GPs in the UK are eczema, skin infections and acne, which are relatively easy to treat. Two of the less common skin disorders are chronic condition psoriasis, which accounts for 6% of skin disorders, and skin tumours, which account for 2% of all skin diseases, and carry the bulk of the mortality rate.
