Explore the Agenda
8:00 am Check In, Coffee & Light Breakfast
Workshop A
9:00 am Designing Dermatology Trials That Actually Recruit: Overcoming Fragmentation, Cultural Barriers & Regulatory Constraints to Build Feasible, High-Quality Studies Across Europe
Dermatology trials, whether common indications like AD, psoriasis and acne, or rarer conditions with dispersed patients, face growing feasibility barriers. Fragmented healthcare systems, inconsistent standards of care, cultural differences influencing treatment-seeking behaviour, and increasingly stringent EMA expectations all hinder recruitment, retention, and data quality. This interactive workshop guides attendees through the practical realities of building trials that recruit reliably, retain diverse patients, and generate acceptable evidence across Europe. Through structured roundtables and shared problem-solving, participants will co-create tools for country selection, protocol feasibility, culturally adaptive engagement, and real-world patient support.
What attendees will gain: a realistic understanding of the operational, cultural and regulatory obstacles impacting both common and rare dermatology trials, with practical frameworks to improve feasibility, anticipate EMA expectations, and design studies that succeed despite fragmented systems and heterogeneous populations.
- How do we overcome Europe’s cultural and healthcare-system fragmentation when recruiting dermatology patients across both common and rare conditions?
- How should evolving confirmatory-study expectations (e.g., data robustness, acceptable endpoints, subgroup representation) reshape protocol design?
- What practical models exist for engaging elderly, offline, or underserved populations who cannot be reached through digital channels?
- How can we ethically support and incentivise participation when reimbursement rules and healthcare access vary widely by country?
- How do we harmonise standards of care and assessment tools across nations to reduce variability, especially when datasets are small or disease presentation is heterogeneous?
12:00 pm Lunch & Networking Break
Workshop B
1:00 pm Advancing Disease-Modifying & Early-Intervention Strategies in Dermatology: Matching Mechanisms, Subpopulations & Diagnostic Timing for Transformative Efficacy
This workshop will delve into the move beyond symptom control toward diseasemodifying therapies, earlier intervention, and precision targeting of responder subgroups. Discuss defining patient endotypes, handling variability, anticipating nonresponders, and designing trials capable of proving superiority in crowded spaces like AD, psoriasis, HS, and CSU. Participants will examine early-diagnosis challenges, biomarker-guided recruitment, and emerging combinations/bispecifics.
What attendees will gain: practical strategies to redesign clinical programs for long-term remission and subpopulation-specific efficacy.
- How do we identify meaningful patient subpopulations using proteomics/genomics for trial eligibility?
- What evidence is required to justify early use of advanced therapies in diseases like HS or psoriasis?
- How can we design trials to push beyond plateaus in efficacy?
- How do misdiagnosis and diagnostic delay hinder early-intervention strategies?
- What endpoints best capture disease-modifying potential?