Meet The Speaker: Meital Portugal
Ahead of the 7th Dermatology Drug Development Summit Europe, we sat down with Meital Portugal, Director of R&D Operations, Scinai Immunotherapeutics, for a deep dive into the critical scientific questions driving the next era of CNS & Inflammation research.
Meital’s insights underscore a transformative shift in dermatology toward highly targeted, mechanism‑driven therapies and a broader focus on complex immune‑mediated diseases.
Dive into insights below and be sure to secure your pass and join Meital this May in Amsterdam.
Since joining Scinai, how have you seen the Dermatology field evolve over this time?
Dermatology has become one of the most dynamic areas in immunology, with a clear shift from broad immunosuppression toward highly targeted therapies addressing specific immune pathways. The field has also expanded outside plaque psoriasis and atopic dermatitis to include a wider range of immune-mediated and rare dermatologic conditions, including hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), Psoriasis Arthritis (PsA) Pemphigus,Palmoplantar pustulosis(PPP), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and vasculitis. This reflects a deeper understanding of the connection between the skin and the immune system, and how shared pathways drive multiple diseases. From our perspective at Scinai, an important evolution is that success increasingly depends on making the right early development decisions-particularly around indication selection, manufacturability, and demonstrating meaningful differentiation beyond efficacy.
What do you think the key milestones have been for the industry, and for yourselves in this time?
For the industry, a key milestone has been the transition from empirical treatments to mechanism-driven therapies, which has significantly improved outcomes across several dermatologic diseases, For example, anti IL-17A/F therapies are used in plaque psoriasis, PsA, and HS. This has also enabled expansion into indications that were historically difficult to treat. For Scinai, a key milestone has been advancing our VHH-based nanobody platform, which enables the design of smaller, highly specific biologics that can access targets and formats less feasible with conventional antibodies, including multispecific approaches. This positions us to develop more distinctive therapeutic strategies while efficiently progressing toward clinical evaluation.
What current developments are you most excited about, firstly for yourselves, and secondly from your peers?
At Scinai, we are particularly excited about advancing our VHH-based nanobody platform, which enables modular multispecific formats and supports diverse delivery routes - including systemic, intradermal, and inhaled administration - while allowing precise and simultaneous modulation of multiple immune pathways. These capabilities open new possibilities for developing more tailored therapeutic approaches, including improved tissue penetration and targeting of complex disease biology (e.g. refractory psoriasis, PsA, HS, PPP). From an industry perspective, it is exciting to see the continued expansion of novel immune targets and modalities across dermatologic and related inflammatory diseases. It is also encouraging to see a stronger focus on patient-relevant outcomes, including itch control, quality of life, durability of response, and improved treatment convenience.
What do you see as being the key challenges for us to turn these developments into realities?
One of the biggest challenges is selecting the right first clinical indication to demonstrate value early and convincingly. Many programs fail not because of biology, but due to suboptimal early development decisions. This requires balancing scientific rationale, clinical feasibility, manufacturing considerations, and regulatory expectations, while managing the long and resource-intensive path to clinical trials. In addition, the lack of sufficiently predictive translational models remains a key bottleneck. Stronger translational data are critical to bridge the gap between preclinical findings and clinical success, with more predictive models and biomarkers helping to accelerate decision-making. At the same time, therapies must show clear clinical value, with success defined not only by efficacy but also by response persistence, dosing flexibility, and overall treatment profile.
In the short and long term, what would you say your hopes and expectations are for the future of Dermatology research?
In the short term, I expect continued expansion of targeted therapies and innovative biologic formats across both common and rare dermatologic diseases. Advances in delivery approaches will further improve patient experience, including reduced dosing frequency, shorter treatment duration, and more durable responses. A key priority will also be accelerating the path to clinical trials through more predictive preclinical models aligned with regulatory expectations. Over the longer term, dermatology will likely serve as a valuable validation space for new immunology concepts, helping to drive broader innovation across a wider range of inflammatory and immune diseases.
And finally, why are you excited for the 7th Dermatology Drug Development Summit Europe?
The summit brings together a unique mix of stakeholders across the dermatology ecosystem who are actively shaping the field: biotech and pharmaceutical leaders, clinicians, regulatory and market access experts, as well as academic researchers. It provides a valuable forum to discuss not only scientific innovation but also critical development challenges such as early validation strategies, clinical trial design, and access pathways. For companies like Scinai, these discussions are particularly important for advancing how novel biologic formats can be translated into clinically meaningful and differentiated therapies.
