Dermatology Research and Clinical Development
Innovation from early-phase research to global commercialization
The future of therapeutic dermatology is being shaped by rapid advances in immuno-dermatology and autoimmune skin disease, with continued innovation across inflammatory, rare, and chronic dermatologic conditions. As the dermatology market continues to evolve with breakthrough innovations, companies need partners who can navigate complex clinical development pathways.
For those at the forefront of these innovations in dermatology, we provide deep therapeutic and clinical development expertise across the full spectrum of dermatology drug development – supported by global operational scale, scientific rigor, and insights from clinical development through commercialization.
Let’s put our dermatology experts to work for you
Expertise
Syneos Health by the Numbers:
200+
dermatology studies completed
41,000+
patients enrolled across 6,000+ sites globally
1,900+
clinical staff globally, experienced in dermatology indications
31
medical monitors with dermatology experience
In recent five-year period (2020-2024), helped to develop or commercialize dermatology therapies:
100%
approved by the FDA
100%
approved by the EMA
(Additional approvals across Canada and APAC)
Deep therapeutic expertise for flexible, integrated dermatology solutions
Our specialists in dermatology drug development leverage the experience, insights and capabilities across our global team and offer flexible, integrated solutions from phase I research to commercialization.
Since 2020, we’ve completed more than 200 dermatology clinical trials across a broad range of indications, including:
- Atopic dermatitis (eczema)
- Psoriasis
- Prurigo nodularis (PN)
- Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU)
- Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS)
- Acne and alopecia
- Rare and orphan dermatologic diseases
- Cosmetic dermatology and medical aesthetics
We also bring extensive experience supporting long-term, multi-study programs, including 8+ year programs spanning approximately eight studies per program for leading sponsors.
Early-phase dermatology expertise: Phase I / IIa
As demand grows for earlier-stage dermatology development, we offer robust Phase I and Phase IIa dermatology expertise, including combined healthy volunteer and patient arms.
Our Phase I units in North America, Canada, and Australia support complex early development programs with speed, precision, and operational excellence – positioning sponsors for confident downstream development.
Atopic dermatitis clinical trials and eczema research expertise
Our proven track record in atopic dermatitis trials demonstrates our ability to navigate the exceptional challenges of these studies, including complex disease mechanisms, heterogeneity of response, adherence challenges to treatment protocols, and barriers to participation.
- 49 atopic dermatitis studies
- 12,800+ patients across 2,400+ sites
- 31 atopic dermatitis projects for 12 companies
Accelerating patient recruitment
Our breadth of experience means we have strong relationships with high-recruiting sites and a global network of more than 3,000 dermatologists to support faster site activation and efficient patient enrollment. These long-standing relationships help ensure studies are prioritized at the site level, enabling streamlined startup and faster progression to first patient in.
To further increase enrollment, including hard-to-find and rare dermatologic populations, we leverage our proprietary Digital Amplifier™ platform. This technology precisely identifies qualified HCPs at the individual level to deliver personalized messaging about your trial across digital channels to drive awareness, referrals, and site engagement. This omnichannel marketing approach reaches dermatology HCPs near sites, boosting awareness and patient referrals for study screening and enrollment.
The result can be a dramatic acceleration in patient referrals and recruitment that nets major time and cost savings, improves diversity among trial participants and ultimately helps deliver better care to patients, faster.
Capabilities that go above and beyond
With deep dermatology expertise embedded in a full-service CRO model, we also offer a full suite of bioanalytical solutions for accurate, precise and timely data, providing clear answers to your critical development questions.
Our world-class dermatology laboratory supports programs from preclinical through Phase III development, combining advanced technologies and scientific rigor to ensure superior processing and analysis of dermatologic samples in support of innovative skin health solutions.
Our dermatology bioanalytical capabilities include:
Our dermatology bioanalytical capabilities include:
- Non-invasive tape-stripping and lipidomics analyses for skin barrier monitoring
- Advanced biomarker services: immunoassays (>10,000 results in 3 years), proteomics (Orbitrap) and next-generation sequencing
- Expertise in biomarker discovery, target engagement and pharmacodynamics
Proven sample processing across skin biopsies, tape strips, whole blood, plasma, serum and TruCulture tubes
What are the challenges of atopic dermatitis clinical trials?
- The current therapeutic armamentarium (biologics and JAKs) has greatly expanded treatment options for patients, so patients would rather seek treatment rather than participate in a clinical trial where they are likely to be in the placebo arm.
- Competing trials: the AD clinical trial landscape is crowded with so many drugs in the pipeline, competing trials at sites reduces the patient pool.
- Restrictive inclusion/exclusion criteria- most AD trials often exclude older adults and patients with comorbidities, whereas real-world patients with these comorbidities tend to do well with the approved drugs.
Syneos Health can help with our vast network of sites with no or minimal competing AD trials and by working with clients to develop protocols that are less restrictive.
Better together
Many dermatology conditions are considered rare and need even more specialized expertise. At Syneos Health®, helping companies develop rare disease therapies is something we take personally. It takes novel and integrated approaches, including early engagement of key stakeholders, to accelerate products to market and de-risk the development of critical patient therapies. Our rare disease experts help speed rare disease therapies to patients and families who are waiting.
