Journal of Infectious Diseases & Therapy
Open Access

Abstract

Diagnosis of chronic skin inflammation is largely performed by visual assessment, for instance by judging the shape, pattern, position, thickness, redness and scaling of skin lesions on the body. These phenotypic characteristics are typically end-products of the underlying biological processes responsible for disease. Despite the unquestionable value of visual assessment for treatment decisions and patient monitoring, more detailed analyses methods are needed for answering the unmet medical need for offering personalized medicine to patients, e.g., methods that can be used for selection as well as fine-tuning of treatment. Proteins that play a crucial role in skin inflammation, such as cytokines and chemokines, form the molecular root of inflammation and thus have tremendous value for catering personalized medicine in the form of biomarkers. Skin biomarker measurements are typically performed on skin material obtained through invasive procedures and analyses are typically costly and elaborate. FibroTx TAP and SELF are novel molecular diagnostic platform technologies for biomarker measurements directly from skin. These platform technologies are currently being tested in clinical studies for the development of skin diagnostic tools that can objectively assess the disease activity status of skin lesions. The aim of the studies is to develop practical point-of-care devices that can markedly improve skin treatment, which is cost-efficient and does not require the need for extensive clinical laboratory expertise.

Biography

Pieter Spee has received his PhD in Immunology from the Netherlands Cancer Institute, University of Leiden. While at Novo Nordisk, he made significant contributions to Lirilumab and Monalizumab, both currently in phase II clinical development by BMS and AstraZeneca in collaboration with Innate Pharma, respectively. As a Director and Scientific Director, he was heading up preclinical translational research at Novo Nordisk. In 2012, he founded PS Pharmaconsult, offering expert advice on drug and medical device development through a unique 360 degrees patient centric approach. Currently, he functions as a Chief Technology Officer at FibroTx LLC, developing two highly innovative skin diagnostic devices, TAP and SELF, allowing personalized medicine in skin care and clinical dermatology.

Email: Pieter.Spee@fibrotx.com