Novel Interventions Targeting Itch Pathways in Skin Disease

Target Audience
This educational program is directed toward dermatologists, family practice clinicians, and other health care professionals who treat patients with chronic skin conditions.

Program Overview
Chronic skin conditions with pruritis have a significant effect on quality of life with sleep disturbances and functional impairment resulting in poorer performance at work or school. Although topical therapies are the mainstay of therapy, gaps in treatment remain with varying degrees of efficacy in reducing itch and patient satisfaction with the agent’s vehicle, as well as substantial safety concerns, particularly with long-term use of topical corticoid steroids. New topical therapies are emerging that specifically target the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in itch associated with skin diseases and offer an improved safety profile.

This Community Practice Connection™ program provides an in-depth review of some of the key highlights from the virtual symposium at the Canadian Dermatological Society annual meeting held June 26, 2021. This unique and engaging multimedia activity is ideal for the community-based clinician and focuses on the practical aspects of managing patients with chronic skin conditions associated with itch and putting recent clinical trial data into clinical context. The program is designed for those who did not attend the live meeting and to help reinforce learnings for those who did.

Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this activity, participants should be better able to:

Describe the pathophysiology of itch
Analyze safety and efficacy data for emerging topical therapies that target itch pathways in skin diseases
Identify characteristics of vehicles used in topical agents for skin diseases that impact patient preferences for therapy