Recent Select Industry Partnership Highlights:
Kwatra SG, Bordeaux ZA, Parthasarathy V, et al. Efficacy and Safety of Abrocitinib in Prurigo Nodularis and Chronic Pruritus of Unknown Origin: A Nonrandomized Controlled Trial. JAMA Dermatology. 2024;160(7):717-724. doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2024.1464.
Ständer S, Yosipovitch G, Legat FJ, et al. Efficacy and Safety of Nemolizumab in Patients With Moderate to Severe Prurigo Nodularis: The OLYMPIA 1 Randomized Clinical Phase 3 Trial. JAMA Dermatology. 2025;161(2):147-156. doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2024.4796.
Ständer S, Elmariah SB, Kwatra SG, et al. Rapid improvement of itch with nemolizumab in atopic dermatitis and prurigo nodularis phase 3 studies. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology. 2025. doi:10.1111/jdv.70250.
Kwatra SG, Das AK, Chang E, et al. Healthcare Resource Utilization and Economic Burden of Prurigo Nodularis
in the United States. Dermatology and Therapy. 2025;15:413-425. doi:10.1007/s13555-025-01349-7.
Ständer S, Yosipovitch G, Kwatra SG, et al. Dupilumab Treatment Provides Multidimensional Benefits in Patients with Prurigo Nodularis. Dermatology and Therapy. 2026;16:3189-3200. doi:10.1007/s13555-026-01777-z.
Kwatra SG, Ständer S, Kim BS, et al. Dupilumab Improves Daily Symptom Burden in Adult Patients with Prurigo Nodularis: Post Hoc Analysis from LIBERTY PN-PRIME and PRIME2 Studies. Dermatology and Therapy. 2026;16:1767-1778. doi:10.1007/s13555-026-01674-5.
Dermatology Brochure
The University of Maryland School of Medicine Department of Dermatology is an integrated basic science laboratory and clinical trials unit with specialty centers including the Maryland Itch Center and the Center for Precision Dermatology. Our strengths include skin of color research, chronic inflammatory skin disease, precision immunophenotyping, phase 2 and 3 study execution, and expanding clinical access points throughout Maryland. We connect biomarker discovery, translational validation, interventional trials, and downstream outcomes analyses.
Preclinical & Translational Development Assets
Maryland Itch Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center integrates basic science, translational research, and cutting-edge clinical trials for itch and inflammatory skin disease.
Innovative peripheral-blood immunophenotyping platform. UMSOM dermatology researchers have reported a new flow-cytometry-based blood test, received a patent for the method, used it to define a previously undescribed IL-13/IL-17 erythroderma phenotype, and linked that discovery to successful targeted
biologic treatment.
Pigment cell biology, melanoma, and skin cancer expertise. Dedicated resources and internationally recognized faculty in these areas add depth in melanocyte stem cell biology, melanoma epigenetics, and transgenic mouse systems for melanocyte isolation and characterization, broadening the department’s translational reach beyond inflammatory disease.
Clinical Development Capabilities
Active sponsor-led trial capabilities. Active site for phase 3, industry-sponsored trials for innovative new medicines.
Expanding access network for recruitment and follow-up. University of Marlyand continues its rapid growth in clinical operations, including the addition of new clinic sites and affiliations with the VA Health Care System. These system features give the department access to tertiary-care and veteran-patient environments that can support broader recruitment and translational-clinical handoff.
HEOR and Post-Approval Capabilities
Demonstrated Academia-Industry HEOR Collaboration. The department has partnered with pharmaceutical R&D scientists on claims-analysis research to publish on key dermatology related health economics issues.
Post-approval evidence generation. UMSOM Dermatology faculty have partnered with industry researchers
to extend pivotal trial data into multidimensional enefit assessments.
Linking mechanisms to outcomes. Together, the department’s biomarker platform, national-dataset analytics, and PRO-heavy post hoc analyses connect mechanistic findings with post-approval
evidence planning.
We welcome partnership discussions
With these strengths in place, the University of Maryland Department of Dermatology is poised and ready to discuss collaboration with industry partners is areas such as:
- Biomarker-led precision dermatology partnerships in chronic itch, prurigo nodularis, hidradenitis suppurativa, keloids, autoimmune blistering disease, and related inflammatory dermatoses.
- Phase 2 and phase 3 therapeutic development for biologics, JAK inhibitors, and other neuroimmune or inflammatory targets in prurigo nodularis, chronic pruritus, and adjacent inflammatory skin disease.
- Companion diagnostic and translational assay development built around peripheral-blood immunophenotyping, flow cytometry, spatial transcriptomics, and single-cell sequencing.
- HEOR, PRO, and post-approval evidence programs that use claims data, national inpatient datasets, and symptom-burden or quality-of-life analyses to strengthen access, value, and lifecycle strategy.
- Skin of color and disparity-focused development programs, especially where inflammatory skin disease burden, access, and therapeutic response need to be characterized across diverse populations.
Let’s discuss collaborating, contact:
Robert McClain, PhD
Director of Industry Partnerships
Robert.McClain@som.umaryland.edu