What Is Industry’s Role in Dermatology? …And a New Gut Reaction with KOLs

Happy Fall, Readers! In a bind trying to squeeze in some last-minute CME before the year’s end? If you missed the recent Skin of Color Update (SOCU) in NYC, check out the upcoming ODAC Dermatology Conference 2027, which is from January 15-18 in sunny Orlando, FL. You can register here.

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Industry and medicine have always had a tricky yet mutually beneficial relationship. In our field, that relationship has evolved over time. How would you characterize the evolution of industry’s role in dermatology? This month, I posed this exact question to some key opinion leaders who have been at the forefront of research and innovation. Drs. Tina Bhutani, Adam Friedman, Lawrence F. Eichenfield, and Vishal Patel resoundingly concur that industry is a critical component of innovation in dermatology. Read on for more specifics from these thought leaders on how and why we wouldn’t be where we are with treatments and outcomes without our industry partners.

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In addition to candid talk, you can also see what the thought leaders think about some other hot topics in the short Gut Reaction.

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Thank you to these thought leaders for sharing their perspectives. Please contact me at colleen@cmhadvisors.com with comments or suggestions, and thanks for reading!—Colleen Hutchinson

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Industry’s Role in Dermatology

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How would you characterize the evolution of industry’s role as a partner in dermatology research and education and what it is today?

Dr. Friedman: Industry has gone from being largely a source of products and research funding to being an extraordinarily important part of the dermatologic innovation ecosystem. Look at what has happened in psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, hidradenitis suppurativa, alopecia areata, vitiligo, chronic spontaneous urticaria, and many other diseases. Moving a mechanistic insight through clinical development and ultimately into our patients' hands requires enormous scientific, operational, and financial resources. Industry is an essential partner in making that happen. But partner is the operative word. Partnership does not mean surrendering scientific independence. The relationship works when academia, clinicians, patients, and industry bring different expertise to the table, when conflicts are transparent, and when education remains evidence-driven rather than product-driven. I also think the best partnerships have evolved beyond, "Here's our molecule; please talk about it." Increasingly, industry can help identify and address broader unmet needs: delays in diagnosis, diversity in clinical trials, patient education, access, adherence, real-world evidence, and gaps in clinician education. Those are ecosystem problems, and solving them requires an ecosystem.

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Dr. Bhutani: The relationship between industry and dermatology has evolved from a transactional one to a much more collaborative partnership. Today, the best collaborations leverage what each brings to the table—industry’s resources and drug-development expertise and the dermatologist's clinical insight and scientific perspective—to ultimately move the field forward for our patients.

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Dr. Patel: It's matured from a largely promotional presence into a genuine partner in investigator-initiated science and education — and the field's growing transparency around that partnership is exactly what keeps it credible.

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Dr. Eichenfield: I think that any practicing dermatology practitioner is aware of how our advances in therapies for so many diseases have been remarkable, reducing the impact of so many conditions on patients and their families. These could not and would not happen without partnerships with dermatologists, researchers, and industry. A salute to the teaming up of industry and dermatology and the continued investments made in education as well as researching our future and evolving medications and breakthroughs.

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End of the Year Gut Reaction

Most challenging issue(s) my counterparts and I face today:
Dr. Bhutani: Reimbursement cuts.

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Dr. Patel: Keeping real-world access and multidisciplinary coordination from lagging behind how fast our therapies are advancing.

Dr. Friedman: Access. Access. Access. Did I say access? To dermatologists, to medications, and to accurate information.

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Dr. Eichenfield: That after good discussions with patients and families deciding on which drug would be a good one for the patient, using our best practices of shared patient decision making, we can be told that the chosen drug isn’t available, and that a substitute, often an inferior, older drug with more side effects and less efficacy, should be use.

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Are we adequately addressing/correcting systemic inequities — bias, social determinants of health, gender and racism?

Dr. Friedman: Better? Yes. Adequately? Nope. Awareness without measurable change in access, representation and outcomes is not equity.

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Dr. Eichenfield: Our health care system in the US has evolved incredibly to treat disease more effectively with incredible improvements in outcomes, but our work on health promotion and prevention of poorer health has had less successes than in the past. And certainly our outreach to many in our communities is less successful, often delaying interventions that can be beneficial.

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Dr. Bhutani: We are doing better but still lots of room to improve!

How I keep up on continuing education:
Dr. Patel: Meetings like LVD, our skin cancer journal club, and staying close to the primary literature and the colleagues generating it.

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Dr. Eichenfield: I remain a nerd mixing journal scanning with the many alerts I get of new articles in the field, but also, in a BIG way, believe that CME meetings are the best venue for learning! Good meetings aren’t just a download of new studies; they are a mix of discussion and translation of new information into best practices with some “group processing.”‍

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Dr. Friedman: Teach. Read. Listen. Argue (with kindness). Rinse & repeat. Teaching residents and students is probably the most effective and best continuing education. That’s a plug to get involved with academic programs! Nothing unearths the holes in what you think you know faster than having to explain why you do something.

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Dr. Bhutani: Attending conferences and local grand rounds.

Most critical new (or on-the-horizon) advance:
Dr. Eichenfield: For our rare genetic dermatoses I am looking forward to gene-directed therapies, which I believe will be incredibly exciting in the next decade. And, of course, more work on how early treatment of inflammatory skin diseases in children can change the life course of the disease and the health of the patients!

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Dr. Patel: Moving immunotherapy earlier in the disease course for keratinocyte cancers — including intralesional, neoadjuvant, de-escalated dosing before surgery — which has real potential to change how we treat early-stage and high-risk skin cancer.

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Dr. Bhutani: Melanoma treatment is making leaps and bounds!

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Got no CME plans for 2027? We’ve got some critical CME conference opportunities lined up:

ODAC Dermatology Conference 2027

January 15-18, 2027 | Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, Orlando, FL

For more info, click here!

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Pigmentary Disorders Exchange (PDE) Symposium 2027

June 11-12, 2027 | Loews Chicago Hotel in Chicago, IL

For more info, click here!

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